[caycep]

well, "cortical representations" is just a fancy way of describing modern day phrenology. I.e. you stick a programmer in the fMRI scanner, the signal gives more blobbiness in the brain cortex (i.e. the outer layer of noodles) in a certain pattern vs. an aged match nonprogrammer control.

If you actually get inside the skull and attach electrodes, you then can maybe measure the oscillatory dynamics and properties of say a bunch of neurons in a specific part of the cortex and claim there's tuning because some paramater - phase coupling, firing frequency, etc etc etc appears different than a group of aged matched controls. But I'm sure no programmer voluntarily agreed to non-medically necessary brain surgery...