9781422280348

Chapter One

Meet Your Brain T hink about what you’re going to have for lunch. Or about what your teacher just wrote on the board. Or something your friend told you between classes. Your brain is where all these thoughts take place. But your brain does so much more than think your conscious thoughts. The command center of your body, it controls almost everything you do. Without you even being aware of it, your brain silently commands your interactions with the world around you. All the information you collect with your senses is useless to you until your brain makes sense of it. Your eyes don’t work without your brain. Neither do your ears, or even your mouth. When you’re using language, gestures, pictures, or music to communicate, your brain is in charge. Your brain controls all of your voluntary muscle movements: walking, running, picking up a pencil, bringing a forkful of macaroni to your mouth, even chewing and swallowing your food. What’s more, your brain manages to juggle all these vital tasks simultaneously. If you can walk, talk, and chew gum at the same time, you can thank your brain.

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