System neuroscience: Past, present, and future

In this review, we discuss first the anatomical and lesion studies that allowed the localization of fundamental functions in the cerebral cortex of primates including humans. Subsequently, we argue that the years from the end of the Second World War until the end of the last century represented the “golden age” of system neuroscience. In this period, the mechanisms—not only the localization—underlying sensory, and in particular visual functions were described, followed by those underlying cognitive functions and housed in temporal, parietal, and premotor areas. At the end of the last century, brain imaging techniques were developed that allowed the assessment of the functions of different cortical areas in a more precise and sophisticated way. However, brain imaging tells little about the neural mechanisms underlying functions. Furthermore, the brain imaging suffers from 3 major problems: time is absent, the data are merely correlative and the testing is often not ecological. We conclude our review discussing the possibility that these pitfalls might be overcome by using intracortical recordings (eg stereo-EEG), which have millisecond time resolution, allow direct electrical stimulation of specific sites, and finally enable to study patients while freely moving.