Actually, reflexes are caused by stimulating nerves to fire their electrical charge into muscle groups. Stimulating an area of the brain with an electrical charge has the same effect of stimulating the nerve, but rather than a simple, single action, the nerve triggerings are far more controlled and operate over a sequenced pattern.
It's a so far proven theory that as we learn how to move our bodies around, our brains wire themselves up in these sequences to trigger nerves to move muscles in the right order. Each and every necessary sequence, as well as variables and room for new sequences, are accounted for and acommodated.
By analysing data from scans, areas of the brain responsible for certain actions can be pinpointed and tracked to work out roughly where an electrode needs to be placed in order to initiate that action.
|