The current debate about the rights of the self-employed raises the question of how much control we have over our work. Is an Uber driver really their own boss if they are controlled by a corporation? And how much does it affect work performance?
A great deal, from a neuroscientific perspective. There is a crucial difference between movements you control and movements you make when you slavishly follow external direction. The cerebellum predicts what these movements will be depending on how planned they are. If, for example, you move your arm to follow a dot on the screen, rather than tracing your own path, the brain activations will be different.
When you have no idea what you’re doing in advance, your movements are inherently more clumsy - the body works better when you are in charge. Being able to predict them enables you to regulate, flexibly and gracefully, and adapt in response to changing circumstances.
Similarly, self-employment, where you actually make your own plans and decide what you want to do, could benefit everyone, but the gig economy doesn’t allow for this degree of autonomy.
Dr Daniel Glaser is director of Science Gallery at King’s College London
