Cognitive neuroscience

For the academic journal, see Cognitive Neuroscience.

Cognitive neuroscience is an academic eld concerned
with the scientic study of biological substrates underlying cognition,[1] with a specic focus on the neural substrates of mental processes. It addresses the questions
of how psychological/cognitive functions are produced
by neural circuits in the brain. Cognitive neuroscience
is a branch of both psychology and neuroscience, overlapping with disciplines such as physiological psychology, cognitive psychology, and neuropsychology.[2] Cognitive neuroscience relies upon theories in cognitive science coupled with evidence from neuropsychology, and
Timeline showing major developments in science that led to the
computational modeling.[2]
emergence of the eld cognitive neuroscience.

Due to its multidisciplinary nature, cognitive neuroscientists may have various backgrounds. Other than
the associated disciplines just mentioned, cognitive neuroscientists may have backgrounds in neurobiology,
bioengineering, psychiatry, neurology, physics, computer
science, linguistics, philosophy, and mathematics.

supports a given mental faculty. However, early eorts to

subdivide the brain proved to be problematic. The phrenologist movement failed to supply a scientic basis for
its theories and has since been rejected. The aggregate
eld view, meaning that all areas of the brain participated
in all behavior,[4] was also rejected as a result of brain
mapping, which began with Hitzig and Fritschs experiments [5] and eventually developed through methods such
as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).[6] Gestalt theory,
neuropsychology, and the cognitive revolution were major turning points in the creation of cognitive neuroscience as a eld, bringing together ideas and techniques
that enabled researchers to make more links between behavior and its neural substrates.

Methods employed in cognitive neuroscience include experimental paradigms from psychophysics and cognitive
psychology, functional neuroimaging, electrophysiology,
cognitive genomics, and behavioral genetics. Studies of
patients with cognitive decits due to brain lesions constitute an important aspect of cognitive neuroscience. Theoretical approaches include computational neuroscience
and cognitive psychology.

Cognitive neuroscience can look at the eects of damage

to the brain and subsequent changes in the thought processes due to changes in neural circuitry resulting from
the ensued damage. Also, cognitive abilities based on
brain development is studied and examined under the
1.1
subeld of developmental cognitive neuroscience.

Origins in philosophy

Philosophers have always been interested in the mind.

For example, Aristotle thought the brain was the bodys
cooling system and the capacity for intelligence was located in the heart. It has been suggested that the rst person to believe otherwise was the Roman physician Galen
in the second century AD, who declared that the brain
was the source of mental activity [7] although this has
also been accredited to Alcmaeon.[8] Psychology, a major contributing eld to cognitive neuroscience, emerged
from philosophical reasoning about the mind.[9]

Historical origins

Cognitive neuroscience is an interdisciplinary area of

study that has emerged from many other elds, perhaps most signicantly neuroscience, psychology, and
computer science.[3] There were several stages in these
disciplines that changed the way researchers approached
their investigations and that led to the eld becoming fully
established.

Although the task of cognitive neuroscience is to describe

how the brain creates the mind, historically it has pro- 1.2
gressed by investigating how a certain area of the brain
1

19th century

2
1.2.1

1
Phrenology

HISTORICAL ORIGINS

such as those of John Hughlings Jackson, supported this

view. Jackson studied patients with brain damage, particularly those with epilepsy. He discovered that the epileptic patients often made the same clonic and tonic movements of muscle during their seizures, leading Jackson to
believe that they must be occurring in the same place every time. Jackson proposed that specic functions were
localized to specic areas of the brain,[11] which was critical to future understanding of the brain lobes.
1.2.3 Aggregate eld view
According to the aggregate eld view, all areas of the
brain participate in every mental function.[4]
Pierre Flourens, a French experimental psychologist, challenged the localizationist view by using animal experiments.[3] He discovered that removing the
cerebellum in rabbits and pigeons aected their sense of
muscular coordination, and that all cognitive functions
were disrupted in pigeons when the cerebral hemispheres
were removed. From this he concluded that the cerebral
cortex, cerebellum, and brainstem functioned together as
a whole.[12] His approach has been criticised on the basis
that the tests were not sensitive enough to notice selective
decits had they been present.[3]

A page from the American Phrenological Journal

Main article: Phrenology

1.2.4 Emergence of neuropsychology

Perhaps the rst serious attempts to localize mental functions to specic locations in the brain was by Broca and
Wernicke. This was mostly achieved by studying the effects of injuries to dierent parts of the brain on psychological functions.[13] In 1861, French neurologist Paul
Broca came across a man who was able to understand
language but unable to speak. The man could only produce the sound tan. It was later discovered that the man
had damage to an area of his left frontal lobe now known
as Brocas area. Carl Wernicke, a German neurologist,
found a patient who could speak uently but non-sensibly.
The patient had been the victim of a stroke, and could not
understand spoken or written language. This patient had
a lesion in the area where the left parietal and temporal
lobes meet, now known as Wernickes area. These cases,
which suggested that lesions caused specic behavioral
changes, strongly supported the localizationist view.

One of the predecessors to cognitive neuroscience was

phrenology, a pseudoscientic approach that claimed that
behavior could be determined by the shape of the scalp.
In the early 19th century, Franz Joseph Gall and J. G.
Spurzheim believed that the human brain was localized
into approximately 35 dierent sections. In his book, The
Anatomy and Physiology of the Nervous System in General, and of the Brain in Particular, Gall claimed that a
larger bump in one of these areas meant that that area
of the brain was used more frequently by that person.
This theory gained signicant public attention, leading to
the publication of phrenology journals and the creation
of phrenometers, which measured the bumps on a human subjects head. While phrenology remained a xture
at fairs and carnivals, it did not enjoy wide acceptance
within the scientic community.[10] The major criticism
of phrenology is that researchers were not able to test the- 1.2.5 Mapping the brain
ories empirically.[3]
In 1870, German physicians Eduard Hitzig and Gustav
Fritsch published their ndings about the behavior of animals. Hitzig and Fritsch ran an electric current through
1.2.2 Localizationist view
the cerebral cortex of a dog, causing dierent muscles to
The localizationist view was concerned with mental abil- contract depending on which areas of the brain were elecities being localized to specic areas of the brain rather trically stimulated. This led to the proposition that indithan on what the characteristics of the abilities were and vidual functions are localized to specic areas of the brain
how to measure them.[3] Studies performed in Europe, rather than the cerebrum as a whole, as the aggregate eld

3
view suggests.[5] Brodmann was also an important gure 1.4.1 Brain mapping
in brain mapping; his experiments based on Franz Nissls
tissue staining techniques divided the brain into fty-two New brain mapping technology, particularly fMRI and
PET, allowed researchers to investigate experimental
areas.
strategies of cognitive psychology by observing brain
function. Although this is often thought of as a new
1.3 20th century
method (most of the technology is relatively recent), the
underlying principle goes back as far as 1878 when blood
1.3.1 Cognitive revolution
ow was rst associated with brain function.[6] Angelo
Mosso, an Italian psychologist of the 19th century, had
At the start of the 20th century, attitudes in America were monitored the pulsations of the adult brain through neucharacterised by pragmatism, which led to a preference rosurgically created bony defects in the skulls of patients.
for behaviorism as the primary approach in psychology. He noted that when the subjects engaged in tasks such as
J.B. Watson was a key gure with his stimulus-response mathematical calculations the pulsations of the brain inapproach. By conducting experiments on animals he was creased locally. Such observations led Mosso to conclude
aiming to be able to predict and control behaviour. Be- that blood ow of the brain followed function.[6]
haviourism eventually failed because it could not provide
realistic psychology of human action and thought it was
too based in physical concepts to explain phenomena like
2 Emergence of a new discipline
memory and thought. This led to what is often termed as
the cognitive revolution.[14]

2.1 Birth of cognitive science

1.3.2

Neuron doctrine

Main article: Neuron doctrine

In the early 20th century, Santiago Ramn y Cajal and
Camillo Golgi began working on the structure of the neuron. Golgi developed a silver staining method that could
entirely stain several cells in a particular area, leading him
to believe that neurons were directly connected with each
other in one cytoplasm. Cajal challenged this view after staining areas of the brain that had less myelin and
discovering that neurons were discrete cells. Cajal also
discovered that cells transmit electrical signals down the
neuron in one direction only. Both Golgi and Cajal were
awarded a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1906
for this work on the neuron doctrine.[15]

1.4

Mid-late 20th century

Several ndings in the 20th century continued to advance the eld, such as the discovery of ocular dominance
columns, recording of single nerve cells in animals, and
coordination of eye and head movements. Experimental
psychology was also signicant in the foundation of cognitive neuroscience. Some particularly important results
were the demonstration that some tasks are accomplished
via discrete processing stages, the study of attention, and
the notion that behavioural data do not provide enough information by themselves to explain mental processes. As
a result, some experimental psychologists began to investigate neural bases of behaviour. Wilder Peneld built
up maps of primary sensory and motor areas of the brain
by stimulating cortices of patients during surgery. Sperry
and Gazzanigas work on split brain patients in the 1950s
was also instrumental in the progress of the eld.[7]

On September 11, 1956, a large-scale meeting of

cognitivists took place at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology. George A. Miller presented his "The Magical Number Seven, Plus or Minus Two" paper while
Noam Chomsky and Newell & Simon presented their
ndings on computer science. Ulric Neisser commented
on many of the ndings at this meeting in his 1967 book
Cognitive Psychology. The term psychology had been
waning in the 1950s and 1960s, causing the eld to be
referred to as cognitive science. Behaviorists such
as Miller began to focus on the representation of language rather than general behavior. David Marr concluded that one should understand any cognitive process
at three levels of analysis. These levels include computational, algorithmic/representational, and physical levels
of analysis.[16]

2.2 Combining neuroscience and cognitive

science
Before the 1980s, interaction between neuroscience and
cognitive science was scarce.[17] The term 'cognitive neuroscience' was coined by George Miller and Michael Gazzaniga toward the end of the 1970s.[17] Cognitive neuroscience began to integrate the newly laid theoretical
ground in cognitive science, that emerged between the
1950s and 1960s, with approaches in experimental psychology, neuropsychology and neuroscience. (Neuroscience was not established as a unied discipline until
1971[18] ). In the very late 20th century new technologies evolved that are now the mainstay of the methodology of cognitive neuroscience, including TMS (1985)
and fMRI (1991). Earlier methods used in cognitive neuroscience includes EEG (human EEG 1920) and MEG
(1968). Occasionally cognitive neuroscientists utilize

other brain imaging methods such as PET and SPECT.

An upcoming technique in neuroscience is NIRS which
uses light absorption to calculate changes in oxy- and
deoxyhemoglobin in cortical areas. In some animals
Single-unit recording can be used. Other methods include microneurography, facial EMG, and eye-tracking.
Integrative neuroscience attempts to consolidate data in
databases, and form unied descriptive models from various elds and scales: biology, psychology, anatomy, and
clinical practice.[19] Brenda Milner, Marcus Raichle and
John O'Keefe received the Kavli Prize in Neuroscience
for the discovery of specialized brain networks for memory and cognition in 2014[20] and O'Keefe shared the
Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in the same year
with May-Britt Moser and Edvard Moser for their discoveries of cells that constitute a positioning system in
the brain.[21]

Recent trends

Recently the foci of research have expanded from the localization of brain area(s) for specic functions in the
adult brain using a single technology, studies have been
diverging in several dierent directions [22] such as monitoring REM sleep via polygraphy, a machine that is capable of recording the electrical activity of a sleeping
brain. Advances in non-invasive functional neuroimaging and associated data analysis methods have also made
it possible to use highly naturalistic stimuli and tasks such
as feature lms depicting social interactions in cognitive
neuroscience studies.[23]

REFERENCES

Psychophysics
Functional magnetic resonance imaging
Electroencephalography
Electrocorticography
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation
Computational Modeling

6 Related WikiBooks
wikibooks:Cognitive Psychology and Cognitive
Neuroscience
Wikibook on consciousness
Cognitive
Neuroscience
Neuroscience WikiBook

chapter

of

the

Computational Cognitive Neuroscience wikibook

7 See also
8 References
[1] Gazzaniga, Ivry and Mangun 2002, cf. title
[2] Gazzaniga 2002, p. xv
[3] Kosslyn, S, M. & Andersen, R, A. (1992). Frontiers in
cognitive neuroscience. Cambridge, MA: MIT press.

Topics
Attention
Change blindness
Consciousness
Decision-making
Learning
Memory
Language
Mirror neurons
Social cognition
Emotions

Methods

[4] Cordelia Erickson-Davis. Neurofeedback Training for

Parkinsonian Tremor and Bradykinesia (PDF). Retrieved
2013-05-23.
[5] G. Fritsch, E. Hitzig, Electric excitability of the
cerebrum (ber die elektrische Erregbarkeit des
Grosshirns), Epilepsy & Behavior, Volume 15, Issue 2, June 2009, Pages 123-130, ISSN 1525-5050,
10.1016/j.yebeh.2009.03.001.
[6] Marcus E. Raichle. (2009). A brief history of human
brain mapping. Trends in Neurosciences. 32 (2) 118-126.
[7] Uttal, W, R. (2011). Mind and brain: A critical appraisal
of cognitive neuroscience. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
[8] Gross, C, G. (1995) Aristotle on the Brain. The Neuroscientist(1) 4.
[9] Hateld, G. (2002). Psychology, Philosophy, and Cognitive Science: Reections on the History and Philosophy
of Experimental Psychology. Mind and Language. 17(3)
207-232.
[10] Bear et al. 2007, pp. 10-11

Experimental methods of specic psychology elds in[11] Enersen, O. D. 2009

clude:

[12] Boring, E.G. (1957). A history of experimental psychology. New York.

[13] Uttal, W, R. (2011). Mind and brain: A critical appraisal
of cognitive neuroscience. Cambridge, MA: MIT PressUttal, W, R. (2011). Mind and brain: A critical appraisal
of cognitive neuroscience. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press
[14] Mandler, G. (2002) Origins of the cognitive (r)evolution.
J. Hist. Behav. Sci. Fall 38(4)339-53.
[15] The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1906.
[16] jungminded.weebly.com/7/post/2013/01/
approaches-in-cognitive-pscyhology.html
[17] not available, http://www.petemandik.com/philosophy/
papers/brookmadik.com.pdf not available
[18] Society for Neuroscience. Date of the rst meeting of the
Sociefy for Neuroscience
[19] https://www.boundless.com/psychology/
history-psychology/origin-psychology/
growth-of-psychology-as-a-science-$-$31/

Gazzaniga, M. S., Ed. (1999). Conversations in the

Cognitive Neurosciences, The MIT Press, ISBN 0262-57117-X.
Miller, G. A. (1956). The magical number seven,
plus or minus two: Some limits on our capacity for
processing information. Psychological Review, 63,
81-97
Sternberg, Eliezer J. Are You a Machine? The Brain,
the Mind and What it Means to be Human. Amherst,
NY: Prometheus Books.
Ward, Jamie (2015). The Students Guide to Cognitive Neuroscience, 3rd Edition. Psychology Press.
ISBN 978-1848722729.
Handbook of Functional Neuroimaging of Cognition By Roberto Cabeza, Alan Kingstone
Principles of neural science By Eric R. Kandel,
James H. Schwartz, Thomas M. Jessell

[20] http://www.kavliprize.org/prizes-and-laureates/prizes/
2014-kavli-prize-laureates-neuroscience

The Cognitive Neuroscience of Memory By

Amanda Parker, Edward L. Wilding, Timothy J.
Bussey

[21] http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/
laureates/2014/

Neuronal Theories of the Brain By Christof Koch,

Joel L. Davis

[22] Takeo, Watanabe.

overview (PDF).

Cognitive neuroscience Editorial

Cambridge Handbook of Thinking and Reasoning

By Keith James Holyoak, Robert G. Morrison

[23] Hasson, Uri et al. Intersubject Synchronization of Cortical Activity During Natural Vision.

Handbook of Mathematical Cognition By Jamie I.

D. Campbell

Further reading
Bear, M. F., Connors, B. W. & Paradiso M.
A.(2007). Neuroscience: Exploring the Brain
(3rd ed.). pp. 1011. Lippincott Williams &
Wilkins, ISBN 0-7817-6003-8
Churchland, P.S. & Sejnowski, T.J. (1992). The
Computational Brain, The MIT Press, ISBN 0-26203188-4.

Cognitive Psychology By Michael W. Eysenck,

Mark T. Keane
Development of Intelligence By Mike Anderson
Development of Mental Processing By Andreas
Demetriou, et. al.
Memory and Thinking By Robert H. Logie, K. J.
Gilhooly
Memory Capacity By Nelson Cowan

Code, C. (1996). Classic Cases: Ancient & Modern

Milestones in the Development of Neuropsychological Science. In: Code, C. et al. Classic Cases in Neuropsychology.

Proceedings of the Nineteenth Annual Conference

of the Cognitive Science

Enersen, O. D. (2009). John Hughlings Jackson.

In: Who Named It. http://www.whonamedit.com/
doctor.cfm/2766.html Retrieved 14 August 2009

Memory and Thinking By Robert H. Logie, K. J.

Gilhooly

Gazzaniga, M. S., Ivry, R. B. & Mangun, G. R.

(2002). Cognitive Neuroscience: The biology of the
mind (2nd ed.). New York: W.W.Norton.
Gazzaniga, M. S., The Cognitive Neurosciences III,
(2004), The MIT Press, ISBN 0-262-07254-8

Models of Working Memory By Akira Miyake, Priti

Shah

Variation in Working Memory By Andrew R. A.

Conway, et. al.
Memory Capacity By Nelson Cowan
Cognition and Intelligence By Robert J. Sternberg,
Jean E. Pretz

10
General Factor of Intelligence By Robert J. Sternberg, Elena Grigorenko
Neurological Basis of Learning, Development and
Discovery By Anton E. Lawson
Memory and Human Cognition By John T. E.
Richardson
Society for Neuroscience. http://www.sfn.org/
index.cfm?pagename=about_sfn#timeline
Retrieved 14 August 2009
Keiji Tanaka,"Current Opinion in Neurobiology,
(2007)

10

External links

Cognitive Neuroscience Society Homepage

Theres Something about Zero
What Is Cognitive
Ward/Psychology Press

Neuroscience?,

Jamie

goCognitive - Educational Tools for Cognitive Neuroscience (including video interviews)

CogNet, The Brain and Cognitive Sciences Community Online, MIT
Cognitive Neuroscience Arena, Psychology Press
Cognitive Neuroscience and Philosophy, CUJCS,
Spring 2002
Whole Brain Atlas Top 100 Brain Structures
Cognitive Neuroscience Discussion Group
John Jonides, a big role in Cognitive Neurosciences
by Beebrite
School of Cognitive Science, Jadavpur University
Introduction to Cognitive Neuroscience

EXTERNAL LINKS

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