Historical And Conceptual Issues In Cognitive Neuroscience

Question 1

What is cognitive neuroscience?

Answer 1

Branch of neuroscience that studied biological functions of mental phenomena
Aimed at investigating psychological, computational, and neuroscientific bases of cognition

Question 2

How has cognitive neuroscience developed?

Answer 2

Evolved from neurology, neuroscience and cognitive science; from brain research and psychology research
Late 50s psychologists began to think in terms of cognition, not just behaviour
Cognitive neuroscience would be one informative approach to study psychology
New approach of how the brain actually enables mind - new name: cognitive nreuroscience

Question 3

What is the central research question?

Answer 3

How the brain as a whole is organised to present/process different cognition and behaviour

Question 4

What was the 19th century view of the brain?

Answer 4

Localisationist view
Brain organ of mind
Not a single functional entity but a collection of organs representing the propensities, sentiments and faculties
Functions located in specific parts of brain
Brodmanns areas

Question 5

What was the 20th century view?

Answer 5

Dominant view = localisation
Critics = impossible to localise ‘higher cortical functions’ - holistic view
Diaschisis: damage to one part of brain can create problems for another
Brain is dynamic system, interconnected and mutable
Behaviour resulting from lesion due to whole system being out of whack
Lesions brain like a new system not and old system with one part missing

Localisation v holist view

Question 6

How do we study cognitive neuroscience now?

Answer 6

Invasive approaches (only animals)
- single and multi cell recording
- neuroanatomy
- lesions
- genetic manipulations
Non invasive approaches (humans)
- TMS
- brain imaging; PET, fMRI, EEF, MEG
Cognitive neuropsychology (patients with brain injury)

Question 7

How does cognitive neuropsychology work?

Answer 7

Explains patterns of impaired and intact cognitive performance in brain injury patients in terms of damage to one or more components of a theory or model of normal cognitive function

Draws conclusions about normal, intact cognitive processes from the patterns of impaired and intact capabilities seen in brain injury patients

Question 8

What is cytoarchiteconics?

Answer 8

How cells differ between cell regions