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How is the medulla active while driving a car?

I love learning about the human brain. Does the medulla have any function while I’m driving?

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Tiffany Leung · Updated on
Reviewed by Shannon Martin, Licensed Insurance Agent.
That’s a great question! The medulla controls autonomic activities such as your heartbeat, breathing, and perspiration. In other words, the medulla is active while you’re driving a car, but it doesn’t have any cognitive contribution to the driving process.
On the other hand, there are five other sections of the brain that do contribute to driving a car:
  • Frontal lobe: responsible for motor skills, assessing hazardous situations, and suppressing impulsive behavior
  • Temporal lobe: responsible for learning road rules and motor skills
  • Parietal lobe: responsible for your senses and perception
  • Occipital lobe: the visual perception center
  • Cerebellum: also impacts motor skills and monitors emotions related to fear and pleasure
The frontal lobe is most important for driver function but does not fully mature until a person reaches the age of 20. This can explain why teens are more prone to accidents due to critical errors, such as not scanning the intersection or driving too fast on a rainy day.
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