The highly folded human cerebral cortex supports many of our advanced capacities, including memory, language and executive function, and as such has always fascinated neuroscientists. Three articles in this month's issue demonstrate the breadth of research that is devoted to cortical function. First, in their Review on page 110, Bystron, Blakemore and Rakic provide their thoughts on how the standard model of human cortical development should be updated to incorporate new findings that add to our understanding of the timing and sequence of developmental events in the cerebral wall.

In a second Review on page 123, Kanwisher and colleagues consider the functional organization of the human cortex, focusing on the ventral visual pathway. They discuss whether the specificity for particular stimulus categories in areas within the ventral visual pathway reflects maps or modules, and examine what particular aspects of these categories confer specificity.

Lastly, in his Perspective article on page 148, Luiz Pessoa reviews the evidence that cortical areas that are involved in cognitive processes also play a part in emotion and, conversely, that areas mediating emotion also have a role in cognition. He concludes that functional specialization in the brain does not mean that one area maps onto one function, but rather that networks of cortical and subcortical areas mediate the expression of cognitive and emotional behaviours.

These articles highlight how a combination of different approaches — from cellular neuroanatomy to functional imaging and cognitive neuroscience — might eventually lead to a unified understanding of cortical development and organization.