It helps to smooth out movements, and coordinate muscle groups and sequencing, so that our movements compensate for the vagaries of the environment and proceed with constant feedback and modification. It is composed of only 5 types of cells and yet contains more cells than all the rest of the brain. Cells are arranged in a pattern that mimics the body surface. The back of this strip is sensory and if stimulated causes an individual to feel something in the part of the body represented and the front side of the strip causes a muscle to contract in the part of the body represented. The parietal lobe has a hearing center and the occipital area is the visual center of the brain.
All conscious activity takes place on the cortex of the cerebral hemispheres.
The two hemispheres are connected by the corpus callosum , a thick band of axons that have been cut in experiments causing split brain phenomena. There are, however, differences in dominance of function between the two halves. For instance, I just read an article describing an area on the left hemisphere that is consistently smaller in dyslexics than normal readers and purports that dyslexia is a developmental syndrome of a failure of some cells to degenerate. This includes smooth and cardiac muscle and glands. Please ponder the fact that the only physical activities of the brain are to cause muscle contraction or glandular secretion.