Application of the clinicopathological method in the 19th century yielded up identification of those areas of cortex involved in perception, sensation and motor control.

It was expected such success would be followed, in the late 20th early 21st centuries, with unequivocal identification of the cortical areas that support affective powers, thinking, behaving purposively and pursuing goals, following introduction of non-invasive brain imaging methods.

Such unequivocal identification has not occurred for two reasons: first, it is not clear what the relationship is between neuropsychological tests and the normal human behavior being explored; second, it is not clear that the brain imaging methods provide an objective measure of sites of cortical neural activity during such tests.

This review explores these two difficulties and offers possible solutions.