Brain imaging and cognitive neuroscience: toward strong inference in attributing function to structure.
Cognitive neuroscience has emerged from the neurosciences and cognitive psychology as a scientific discipline that aims at the determination of “how brain function gives rise to mental activity” (S. M. Kosslyn & L. M. Shin, 1992, p. 146). While research in cognitive neuroscience combines many level...
| Published in: | American Psychologist Vol. 51; pp. 13 - 22 |
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| Main Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Article |
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American Psychological Association
January 1996
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=508581728&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 508581728 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 0003066X APT jtl: American Psychologist issn: 0003066X maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: January 1996 vid: 51 pid: 34 pub: American Psychological Association artinfo: ui: 508581728 10.1037/0003-066X.51.1.13 ppf: 13 ppct: 9 formats: tig: atl: Brain imaging and cognitive neuroscience: toward strong inference in attributing function to structure. aug: au: Sarter, Martin Berntson, Gary G. Cacioppo, John T. su: Neuropsychology Cognition Brain -- Imaging Brain function localization sug: subj: Neuropsychology Cognition Brain -- Imaging Brain function localization ab: Cognitive neuroscience has emerged from the neurosciences and cognitive psychology as a scientific discipline that aims at the determination of “how brain function gives rise to mental activity” (S. M. Kosslyn & L. M. Shin, 1992, p. 146). While research in cognitive neuroscience combines many levels of neuroscientific and psychological analyses, modern imaging techniques that monitor brain activity during behavioral or cognitive operations have significantly contributed to the emergence of this discipline. The conclusions deduced from these studies are inherently localizationistic in nature; in other words, they describe cognitive functions as being localized in focal brain regions (brain activity in a defined brain region, Φ, is involved in specific cognitive function, Ψ). A broad discussion about the virtues and limitations of such conclusions may help avoid the emergence of a mentalistic localizationism (i.e., the attribution of mentalistic concepts such as happiness, morality, or consciousness to brain structure) and illustrates the importance of a convergence with information generated by different research strategies (such as, for example, evidence generated by studies in which the effects of experimental manipulations of local neuronal processes on cognitive functions are assessed). Progress in capitalizing on brain-imaging studies to investigate questions of the form “brain structure or event Φ is associated with cognitive function Ψ” may be impeded because of the way in which inferences are typically formulated in the brain imaging literature. A conceptual framework to advance the interpretation of data describing the relationships between cognitive phenomena and brain structure activity is provided. Reprinted by permission of the publisher. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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