Much of this chapter was a shorter, simplified version of Stephen Pinker's How the Mind Works
. There wasn't much that was new to me.
Burton's discussion of localized modules in the brain reminded me of a joke:
Scientists have demonstrated that grasshopper's ears are on their legs. When you make a loud noise near a grasshopper, it jumps. However, if you chop off its legs, it doesn't jump.
Electrical stimulation, brain injuries, and unusual conditions like synesthesia provide evidence that particular sensory and emotional perceptions are tied to certain parts of the brain. However, you shouldn't overstate that modular behavior, since, as Burton suggests, mental activity can also be viewed as an emergent behavior across the entire brain.