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"Heads Up" -- The Discovery Files  Play Audio The Discovery Files podcast is available through iTunes or you can add the RSS feedto your podcast receiver. Princeton University researchers have found a mysterious region deep in the human brain could be where we sort through the onslaught of stimuli from the outside world and focus on the information most important to our behavior and survival. Credit: NSF/Karson Productions Audio Transcript: On a need-to-know basis I'm Bob Karson with the discovery files--new advances in science and engineering from the National Science Foundation. (Sound effect: traffic, city) Let's say you're about to cross a busy intersection. Your brain is dealing with work issues, dinner plans, that song you can't get out of your head, walking, visual and auditory stimuli, and a truck coming right at you,(Sound effect: alarm) a truck coming right at you? Yikes! In a split second, you have to know that this is the most vital message. The one you need to react to now. Scientists at Princeton University have found that it could be the pulvinar a mysterious region deep in the brain that sorts through the onslaught of stimuli from the outside world. Like a 'switchboard operator' it regulates communication between clusters of brain cells, synchronizing different parts of the visual cortex so we can act on the information most critical to behavior and survival at the moment. Instead of the oncoming truck getting lost in a jumble of other stimuli, you jump out of the way(Sound effect: truck horn passing)./.../