I
f you’ve ever been in mid-conversation at lunch only to lose your train of thought when your cell phone buzzed, a new study published in Nature Communications offers an explanation of what’s happening in your brain to cause this.
Neuroscientist Adam Aron from the University of California San Diego and postdoctoral scholar Jan Wessel found that the subthalamic nucleus (STN)—the brain system that is involved in interrupting or stopping movement in our bodies—also interrupts cognition. In previous research, Aron identified that the STN is engaged when you make an abrupt stop in action due to an unexpected event.
