research methods

• they are often artificial, for example in most studies studying the complex mental process of memory. They use word lists, these tasks used by neuroscientists often lack ecological validity as they are not something a participant would have to remember in their usual life,For example, Baddeley (1966) used lists of words to find out the encoding used by LTM. However, these words had no meaning to the participants, therefore it lacks external validity as it may not be able to be generalisable to real life, limiting its application and value as a theory.
• Moreover, the emergence of cognitive neuroscience enables the field of biology and psychology to come together, producing credible scientific basis. For example, recent advances in neuroimaging technology, such as Function Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), have provided empirical confirmation of brain activity for specific cognitive functions under controlled conditions. (internal validity)
• However, there are limitations with the methods used. The precise meaning of fMRI activity is still a matter for debate. Some claim that these techniques provide the cognitive approach with a strong scientific grounding, while others insist that neuroimaging evidence is only correlational, and therefore does not constitute true scientific validation of either theories or models, requires inference