When the Brain Moves Like the Body: Rotation, Focus, and Functional Gravity
Nov 11, 2025
A new paper from MIT has just confirmed something I've been teaching for years through Movement Lesson — that movement and cognition are built on the same physics.
The Discovery
In a study published by The Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, researchers from MIT found that after a distraction, the brain doesn't simply "refocus."
Instead, its neurons rotate through space and time — spiraling back into their original pattern of activity.
This rotation was stronger when the brain performed correctly, and weaker when it made an error.
In other words:
Focus is not about staying still. It's about reorganizing through rotation.
Traveling Waves = Functional Movement
As the neurons rotated, the scientists observed traveling waves sweeping across the brain's surface— like ripples restoring calm after a stone hits water.
That's the same pattern we see in a child's body as they find balance after a wobble, or when a baby rolls over for the first time.
The brain isn't fighting distraction — it's moving through it.
What This Means for Development
In Movement Lesson, we call this functional gravity — the body's ability to work with gravity through organized rotation rather than resistance.
Now, neuroscience is showing that the brain works the same way: it doesn't reset linearly — it restores coherence in a rotational manner.
When a child can't turn their head easily, roll over, or shift their weight without collapsing, the same principle applies: their system can't rotate through distraction.
That's why they lose focus, struggle with coordination, or can't self-regulate — because their movement and cognition share the same architecture.
The Big Picture
Whether it's neurons in the brain or muscles in the body, rotation isn't motion — it's organization. It's how life restores itself after disruption. The more synchronized the rotation, the more efficient the system — thinking, balance, and behavior.
And now, thanks to MIT, we can finally say the science agrees.
