How Our Brain Uses What We See

The occipitotemporal cortex (OTC) in our brain is quite the multitasker. It's not just about recognizing faces, bodies, or scenes. It's about using what we see to guide our actions. Some researchers argue that we should shift our focus. Instead of just looking at categories like faces or places, we should see how the OTC helps us act on what we observe. This makes sense. The brain's main job is to help us interact with the world, not just categorize images. But don't dismiss categories entirely. They show us how the brain organizes information. Imagine a library. Books are sorted by genre, but that doesn't mean the genre is all that matters. It's how the library helps us find what we need. New technologies, like deep neural networks, are changing the game. They allow us to study how brain categories connect to our behavior. So, it's not about choosing between categories and behavior. It's about understanding how they work together. In the end, the brain is complex. It's not about picking one way to study it. It's about using all the tools we have to understand it better.