Cognitive Neuroscience (1) – Textbook
Chapter 1: Cognitive Neuroscience: Definitions, Themes, and Approaches
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.
Cognition
Cognition
= ‘the faculty of knowing’
• The set of cognitive functions that allow humans and other animals to generate thoughts
and actions that help reach desired goals.
Natural philosophy and early psychology
Historically, philosophers drew conclusions about cognition based on introspection and reasoning
(without experimental means).
• Built models of mental processes through behavioral observation and experimental
manipulation.
Behaviorism
By the beginning of the twentieth century there was a growing dissatisfaction with the lack of
systematic progress in the study of mental processes.
→ Behaviorism
= highly controlled experiments that matched objective external stimuli to measurable behavior.
(John Watson & B.F. Skinner)
Measured how changes in stimulus presentation influence the subsequent behavior of the animal.
→ stimulus-response learning (operant conditioning)
→ explosion of interest in methods for reinforcing or discouraging specific behaviors.
The focus of behaviorists on learning from rewards led them to ignore other cognitive functions.
• They did not deny the existence of mental states, they considered them too complex and
inappropriate for scientific study, restricting psychology to observable behavior
(operationism).
Cognitive science
The rise of computational science has renewed the study of cognitive functions.
Cognitive scientists assume that cognitive functions act upon
stored information, transforming that information in the service
of adaptive behavior.
Reject the simplicity of the behaviorist research agenda:
In the 1950s and 1960s some psychologists challenged the
behaviorist concept of operationism, arguing that psychological
states and processes exist independently of the experiments that
defined them.
Chomsky → their experiments could not account for even simple
elements of real-world behavior.
→ psychologists began to involve more human participants in their research.
1
,Cognitive science
= information processing associated with cognitive functions, and includes research with human
participants, studies in non-human animals, and computational simulation of cognitive functions.
• Creating cognitive models that describe the underlying psychological processes.
o The elements are sometimes called psychological constructs.
▪ They are created to help explain diverse phenomena without reference to
their ultimate causes in the brain.
Neuroscience
= how the nervous systems of humans and other animals are organized and function.
The Roman physician Galen recognized that damage to the brain could have effects on cognition.
• Physicians knew that cognition was generated by the brain, but they lacked ways to
investigate cognition or to heal its deficits.
In the early nineteenth century, physicians had become interested in the
functional properties of the cerebral cortex (hersenschors).
Frans Joseph Gall → phrenology
= the size of the cerebral cortex could be mapped by measuring bumps on
the overlying skull.
Phrenology made an important contribution to modern neuroscience: it
introduced the idea that different parts of the brain contributes to different sorts of information
processing.
→ localization of function (nowadays)
Physiological research was examined with rapidly developing techniques of
microscopy and cell staining.
Santiago Ramón y Cajal → identification of neurons.
→ cognitive processes are carried out by large populations of neurons.
Research showed that signals are transmitted long distances along neuronal axons by action
potentials.
• Early twentieth century: recording techniques that could track changes in these electrical
signals.
They explore the chemical substances that neurons use to stimulate the cells they contact.
These neurotransmitters are now known to be released by the terminals of neuronal axons at
specialized contacts called synapses, where the transmitters then bind to receptor molecules on
target neurons and other cells.
Penfield applied weak electrical currents to the exposed cerebral cortex of the patient.
• The resulting sensations allowed Penfield to create a systematic map of different parts of the
brain.
2
,Cognitive neuroscience: the neurobiological approach to cognition
Cognitive neuroscience
= cognitive science + neuroscience
The interdisciplinary nature of the field can cause problems:
One misconception is that cognitive neuroscience simply maps the brain regions that are activated
during a psychological process (the search for neural correlates of cognition).
• Understanding the neural correlates of a function plays an important role.
• Ambitions of cognitive neuroscience go well beyond creating maps of brain function.
Practical applications of cognitive neuroscience models:
• Studies of individual differences.
o Understand the neural bases for both typical and atypical cognition at any stage of
the human life span.
o Differences can provide a link between genes and behavior.
Methods: convergence and complementarity
By combining elements of cognitive science and neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience gains access to
a wealth of research techniques.
Using multiple methods provides two critical advantages: convergence and complementarity.
Convergence
= the approach of combining result from multiple experimental paradigms to illuminate a single
theoretical concept.
Convergence is often facilitated by meta-analytic methods.
Complementarity
= methods which provides a different sort of information about brain function.
Cognitive neuroscientists use a welter of research methods that provide insight into different aspects
of physiology.
Each technique carries distinct strengths and limitations, so the results obtained from multiple
techniques are much more compelling than results derived from only one single approach.
3
, 4
Chapter 1: Cognitive Neuroscience: Definitions, Themes, and Approaches
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.
Cognition
Cognition
= ‘the faculty of knowing’
• The set of cognitive functions that allow humans and other animals to generate thoughts
and actions that help reach desired goals.
Natural philosophy and early psychology
Historically, philosophers drew conclusions about cognition based on introspection and reasoning
(without experimental means).
• Built models of mental processes through behavioral observation and experimental
manipulation.
Behaviorism
By the beginning of the twentieth century there was a growing dissatisfaction with the lack of
systematic progress in the study of mental processes.
→ Behaviorism
= highly controlled experiments that matched objective external stimuli to measurable behavior.
(John Watson & B.F. Skinner)
Measured how changes in stimulus presentation influence the subsequent behavior of the animal.
→ stimulus-response learning (operant conditioning)
→ explosion of interest in methods for reinforcing or discouraging specific behaviors.
The focus of behaviorists on learning from rewards led them to ignore other cognitive functions.
• They did not deny the existence of mental states, they considered them too complex and
inappropriate for scientific study, restricting psychology to observable behavior
(operationism).
Cognitive science
The rise of computational science has renewed the study of cognitive functions.
Cognitive scientists assume that cognitive functions act upon
stored information, transforming that information in the service
of adaptive behavior.
Reject the simplicity of the behaviorist research agenda:
In the 1950s and 1960s some psychologists challenged the
behaviorist concept of operationism, arguing that psychological
states and processes exist independently of the experiments that
defined them.
Chomsky → their experiments could not account for even simple
elements of real-world behavior.
→ psychologists began to involve more human participants in their research.
1
,Cognitive science
= information processing associated with cognitive functions, and includes research with human
participants, studies in non-human animals, and computational simulation of cognitive functions.
• Creating cognitive models that describe the underlying psychological processes.
o The elements are sometimes called psychological constructs.
▪ They are created to help explain diverse phenomena without reference to
their ultimate causes in the brain.
Neuroscience
= how the nervous systems of humans and other animals are organized and function.
The Roman physician Galen recognized that damage to the brain could have effects on cognition.
• Physicians knew that cognition was generated by the brain, but they lacked ways to
investigate cognition or to heal its deficits.
In the early nineteenth century, physicians had become interested in the
functional properties of the cerebral cortex (hersenschors).
Frans Joseph Gall → phrenology
= the size of the cerebral cortex could be mapped by measuring bumps on
the overlying skull.
Phrenology made an important contribution to modern neuroscience: it
introduced the idea that different parts of the brain contributes to different sorts of information
processing.
→ localization of function (nowadays)
Physiological research was examined with rapidly developing techniques of
microscopy and cell staining.
Santiago Ramón y Cajal → identification of neurons.
→ cognitive processes are carried out by large populations of neurons.
Research showed that signals are transmitted long distances along neuronal axons by action
potentials.
• Early twentieth century: recording techniques that could track changes in these electrical
signals.
They explore the chemical substances that neurons use to stimulate the cells they contact.
These neurotransmitters are now known to be released by the terminals of neuronal axons at
specialized contacts called synapses, where the transmitters then bind to receptor molecules on
target neurons and other cells.
Penfield applied weak electrical currents to the exposed cerebral cortex of the patient.
• The resulting sensations allowed Penfield to create a systematic map of different parts of the
brain.
2
,Cognitive neuroscience: the neurobiological approach to cognition
Cognitive neuroscience
= cognitive science + neuroscience
The interdisciplinary nature of the field can cause problems:
One misconception is that cognitive neuroscience simply maps the brain regions that are activated
during a psychological process (the search for neural correlates of cognition).
• Understanding the neural correlates of a function plays an important role.
• Ambitions of cognitive neuroscience go well beyond creating maps of brain function.
Practical applications of cognitive neuroscience models:
• Studies of individual differences.
o Understand the neural bases for both typical and atypical cognition at any stage of
the human life span.
o Differences can provide a link between genes and behavior.
Methods: convergence and complementarity
By combining elements of cognitive science and neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience gains access to
a wealth of research techniques.
Using multiple methods provides two critical advantages: convergence and complementarity.
Convergence
= the approach of combining result from multiple experimental paradigms to illuminate a single
theoretical concept.
Convergence is often facilitated by meta-analytic methods.
Complementarity
= methods which provides a different sort of information about brain function.
Cognitive neuroscientists use a welter of research methods that provide insight into different aspects
of physiology.
Each technique carries distinct strengths and limitations, so the results obtained from multiple
techniques are much more compelling than results derived from only one single approach.
3
, 4
