Abstract
This article discusses how the relation between experimental and baseline conditions in functional neuroimaging studies affects the conclusions that can be drawn from a study about the neural correlates of components of the cognitive system and about the nature and organization of those components. I argue that certain designs in common use--in particular the contrast of qualitatively different representations that are processed at parallel stages of a functional architecture--can never identify the neural basis of a cognitive operation and have limited use in providing information about the nature of cognitive systems. Other types of designs-such as ones that contrast representations that are computed in immediately sequential processing steps and ones that contrast qualitatively similar representations that are parametrically related within a single processing stage-are more easily interpreted.
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