Reply to comment

As with any other behavior or output we produce, it is hard to trace the exact processes the reafferent loop goes through and what parts of our nervous system or additional external inputs are involved. However, I think having the concept of a reafferent loop is necessary to understand how many of our behaviors/thoughts/outputs interact with and influence each other. This concept helps us to see the complexity of our nervous system and how it is not just a one-way output producing system. One reason why humans are complex because we can think of something (which is an output) and this thought will go back and influence our subsequent behavior as an input. This looping around of signals improves the efficiency (and possibly the speed) of our nervous system as we don't have to find a new input signal for all of our actions (the reafferent loop is basically how our nervous system recycles the signals it produces). We don't have to wait for some external input to motivate us to do something when we can produce internal thoughts that can motivate us. Similar to how our biological systems have positive/negative feedback systems to help maintain/inhibit certain bodily processes, our nervous system has a similar maintainence system with the physical and mental outputs it produces. So while there are many questions still surrounding the details of how the reafferent loop, I think it is a helpful concept that answers other questions about how the nervous system functions and that allows us to better see the complexity of the nervous system.