Cognitive Neuroscience

• Main focus is to look for a biological basis to thought processes - how the nervous system produce mental processes
• Focuses on the brain and its impact on behaviour and cognitive functions
• Scientific study of biological substrates underlying cognitions - specific focus on neural substrates of mental processes
• Bridges the gap between biological sciences and behavioural sciences that determine how the brain achieves the legion of processes that it performs - developed within the last 3 years
• Wanted to bridge the gap between cognitive science and neuroscience - it's important as it has evolved as technology advanced such as brain scanning, more information about brain activity, PET and fMRI

  What parts are active during certain circumstances
• Knowing the neural basis of mental process can help distinguish between different theories - how the process is performed
• Behavioural data isn't sufficient to distinguish between competing theories
• Neuroimaging data is used to provide strong evidence

  Secondly cognitive neuroscience provides insight in areas of cognitive that are difficult to address without neuroimaging techniques
• Example - Work has been done on trying to understand what the brain does 'at rest' (no task being performed)

  • Can't be done by a traditional psychology experiment - Ps would need something to do, defeating the objective
  • By scanning the brain when no task is done we can find out what is up to when doing nothing
• Understanding the brain is able to process such a variety of information, produce such a variety of responses - helps guide the design of artificial intelligence intended to mimic human abilities facilitating advances in medicine and engineering
• Major aims - to identify neural deficiencies, mark various psychiatry and neurodegenerative disorders (Alzheimer's or stroke) - possible to attempt to identify methods of combating such deficiencies
• Brain interventions - developed to target specific brain areas, offering great hope for improving the therapeutic treatment of mental disorders