Neuroimaging—functional MRI—shows us Technicolor images of the cortex, its regions lit up in a swirling riot of poorly chosen colors that make the Pantone people cry into their tasteful coffee mugs. The swirling colors seem to show us that the cortex is a swarm of activity. That when we see a face the visual areas of our cortex bloom with barrages of neural firing, from V1, V4, and down to the face areas of the temporal lobe. That when we hear a swell of strings, the auditory areas of our cortex bloom with barrages of spikes.
