Researchers from MIT have created a detailed functional map of the brain's cerebral cortex by scanning the brains of 176 young adults while they watched movie clips. The study identified 24 brain networks associated with specific aspects of sensory or cognitive processing. Different networks were involved in processing scenes with people, inanimate objects, actions, and dialogues. The study also revealed how different executive networks are prioritized during easy versus hard-to-follow scenes, suggesting that the brain adapts its activity according to the difficulty of the scenes. The researchers hope that their new map will serve as a starting point for further study of what each of these networks is doing in the brain.