James M. Shine

Imagine an office where employees exchange notes. When there are few tasks, everyone works independently. But when an urgent order arrives, some departments start actively messaging others, and the overall work becomes more coordinated. That's roughly how the brain behaves when we try to hold several things in mind at once.

The brain is like a sprawling city: districts-regions communicate via streets-neural pathways. If traffic lights at an intersection fail, traffic grinds to a halt. Similarly, in the brain, when bundles of nerve fibers (white matter) malfunction, distant regions stop working in concert, and thought stalls.