1. Cognitive Neuroscience: Definitions, Themes, and Approaches
Introduction
Combination of neuroscience and cognitive science. So research in cognitive neuroscience
integrates investigations of brain structure and function, and seeks to measure cognitive
abilities and behavior to understand how the human brain works at all levels.
Cognitive neuroscientists study both human and non-human animals with a diverse set of
tools. These diverse methods allow them to examine the brain as it functions.
Cognition
Cognition: the faculty of knowing. Refers to the set of processes (cognitive functions) that
allow humans and many other animals to perceive external stimuli, to extract key information
and hold it in memory, and ultimately to generate thoughts and actions that help reach
desired goals. Cognition is sometimes described as processing carried out by the mind. But
mind is difficult to define: consists of our subjective, conscious experiences. Many important
aspects of cognition and behavior occur without conscious experience either because they
arise too rapidly or because they occur automatically in the background of current
processing. In the book: mind used for the subjective sense of self, and cognition/cognitive
functions to describe the specific sorts of information processing studied by cognitive
neuroscientists.
Natural philosophy and early psychology
Without experimental means to understand mental life, philosophers historically drew
conclusions about cognition based on introspection and reasoning. In the nineteenth
century, the first true scientists to address these sort of issues (“psychologists”) built models
of mental processes through behavioral observation and experimental manipulation. Many of
their experimental methods are still in use today as ways of quantifying the process of
cognition.
Behaviorism (e.g. Skinner)
Beginning 20th century dissatisfaction with lack of systematic progress in the study of mental
processes → psychology became dominated by a new emphasis on highly controlled
experiments that matched objective external stimuli to measurable behavior.
Behaviorism rejected subjective work on mental functions as being outside the domain of
proper scientific inquiry. Experiments carried out by behaviorists examined how changes in
stimulus presentation could shape how individuals adapt their behavior to the demands of
the environment. Behaviorism advanced the scientific understanding of behavior in important
ways, including the development of stimulus-response learning paradigms that remain
widely used. However, the focus on rewards led them to ignore other cognitive functions.
Cognitive science
Mid-twentieth century: revival of the legitimacy of psychological research of cognitive
functions.
1. Advent of computational science → new insights into perception, memory, and motor
performance.
Introduction
Combination of neuroscience and cognitive science. So research in cognitive neuroscience
integrates investigations of brain structure and function, and seeks to measure cognitive
abilities and behavior to understand how the human brain works at all levels.
Cognitive neuroscientists study both human and non-human animals with a diverse set of
tools. These diverse methods allow them to examine the brain as it functions.
Cognition
Cognition: the faculty of knowing. Refers to the set of processes (cognitive functions) that
allow humans and many other animals to perceive external stimuli, to extract key information
and hold it in memory, and ultimately to generate thoughts and actions that help reach
desired goals. Cognition is sometimes described as processing carried out by the mind. But
mind is difficult to define: consists of our subjective, conscious experiences. Many important
aspects of cognition and behavior occur without conscious experience either because they
arise too rapidly or because they occur automatically in the background of current
processing. In the book: mind used for the subjective sense of self, and cognition/cognitive
functions to describe the specific sorts of information processing studied by cognitive
neuroscientists.
Natural philosophy and early psychology
Without experimental means to understand mental life, philosophers historically drew
conclusions about cognition based on introspection and reasoning. In the nineteenth
century, the first true scientists to address these sort of issues (“psychologists”) built models
of mental processes through behavioral observation and experimental manipulation. Many of
their experimental methods are still in use today as ways of quantifying the process of
cognition.
Behaviorism (e.g. Skinner)
Beginning 20th century dissatisfaction with lack of systematic progress in the study of mental
processes → psychology became dominated by a new emphasis on highly controlled
experiments that matched objective external stimuli to measurable behavior.
Behaviorism rejected subjective work on mental functions as being outside the domain of
proper scientific inquiry. Experiments carried out by behaviorists examined how changes in
stimulus presentation could shape how individuals adapt their behavior to the demands of
the environment. Behaviorism advanced the scientific understanding of behavior in important
ways, including the development of stimulus-response learning paradigms that remain
widely used. However, the focus on rewards led them to ignore other cognitive functions.
Cognitive science
Mid-twentieth century: revival of the legitimacy of psychological research of cognitive
functions.
1. Advent of computational science → new insights into perception, memory, and motor
performance.
