Approaches: Cognitive Neuroscience

Question 1

What is cognitive neuroscience?

Answer 1

• It is an interdisciplinary approach that combines psychology and neuroscience (the study of the nervous system). Researchers within this field study how internal mental processes, such as memory and perception, are linked to brain function.
• Cognitive neuroscientists use a range of brain imaging techniques, such as fMRI and PET scans. These allow researchers to study the activity of the brains of participants as they engage in mental activity, allowing researchers to identify the neural correlates of specific internal mental processes.

Question 2

How did cognitive neuroscience emerge?

Answer 2

• The emergence of cognitive neuroscience can be traced back to the cognitive revolution of the mid-20th century. Following this, psychologists from the combative approach began to investigate internal mental processes, challenging behaviourisms focus on observable behaviour.
• The turning point came in the 1960s and 1970s with the development of new brain imaging techniques like PET and fMRI. These allowed researchers to study the activity of the brains of participants as they engaged in mental activity, allowing researchers to link brain regions to cognitive tasks.
• By the 1980s, cognitive neuroscience had emerged as a discipline that was a fusion of cognitive
  psychology and neuroscience, uniting the study of mental processes with brain function.

Question 3

What is a strength of cognitive neuroscience?

Answer 3

It offers a scientifically credible way to test the ideas of cognitive psychology. Cognitive psychologists develop theoretical models to describe the functions of unobservable
internal mental processes. For example, the multi-store model of memory proposes distinct systems for
short-term and long-term memory.
Cognitive neuroscience provides an empirical test of theoretical models by investigating whether
abstract concepts within theoretical models can be linked to observable brain activity. For example,
brain imaging techniques like fMRI can demonstrate whether different brain regions are associated with
the short-term and long-term memory systems described in the multi-store model of memory.
Moreover, the data collected through these techniques requires minimal interpretation, offering a
highly objective method for investigating the validity of cognitive psychological theories.

Question 4

What is a limitation of cognitive neuroscience?

Answer 4

It typically provides evidence of correlation not causation. The approach involves scanning participants’ brains during mental tasks to identify if a brain area
serves as a neural correlate for an internal mental process. However, this approach only demonstrates a correlation between brain activity and the mental task;
it does not establish that the brain activity directly causes the internal mental process. For example, the
direction of causation between the neural correlate and the mental activity is unclear. It could be that
the activity of the neural correlate causes a type of mental activity, but it could also be that the brain
activity detected during a task might be a consequence of the mental activity rather than its cause.