Put shortly, there is nothing intrinsically motor about the motor cortex, nor sensory about the sensory cortex. Thus the elucidation of the mode of operation of the local modular circuit anywhere in the neocortex will be of great generalizing significance. In these two sentences, Mountcastle summarizes the major idea put forth in his essay. He says that every part of the neocortex works on the same principle. All the things we think of as intelligence—from seeing, to touching, to language, to high-level thought—are fundamentally the same.
