The emergence of cognitive neuroscience

• Cognitive neuroscience is the study of which parts of the brain are involved in different mental processes. It combines the cognitive approach and the biological approach to psychology.  The emergence of cognitive neuroscience was only possible when people invented the technology to look inside the brain.

  fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) - it involves going into a machine and gives us a picture of the brain and shows which area of the brain is active.

  EEG (electroencephalogram) - wearing a hat with electrodes which measures neural activity in the brain.
• Practical applications of Cognitive Neuroscience

  • Use of scanning/imaging techniques to locate different types of memory in different areas of the brain leading to treatment for memory problems
  • Use of scanning/imaging techniques to study mental processing patients with depression or OCD or in children with autism or dyslexia
• Describe the early history of the link between brain structures and cognition

  In the 1860s, Paul Broca identified how damage to an area in the frontal lobe can result in speech production impairment, which is known as Broca's area.
• What advanced which allowed the establishment of cognitive neuroscience?

  Brain scanning techniques e.g. fMRI and PET scans
• What is an example of a study which has used cognitive neuroscience to reveal different types of memory in different parts of the brain?

  Tulving et al. used PET scan to show how episodic and semantic memory are located on opposite sides of the pre-frontal cortex
• State 2 real-life applications of the cognitive approach

  Used to treat psychopathological disorders (OCD, depression)/ Artificial intelligence