Cognitive neuroscience categorised as one of the many approaches to human cognition, focuses on the study of both the brain and behaviour in collaboration. Evidence from such approaches can be used to understand in depth, the mental processes forming cognition. Consequently, this contributes to our understanding of the mind. Despite vast development in this field, various challenges are posed as no single method can answer every question raised due to its limitations and therefore must be combined in order to produce a more reliable understanding. Cognitive psychology was the first to make progress in the understanding of these areas and accordingly it can be noticed that the tasks used by cognitive neuroscientists for brain-imaging …show more content…
Brain-imaging techniques used by cognitive neuroscientist’s aid research into such field by analysing the different parts of the brain that become active when a certain task is performed. The main technique that can be discussed in the role of trying to understand the mind is Functional magnetic resonance imaging. This technique uses an MRI machine to measure brain activity by looking at changes in one’s blood flow. Stern et al, 1996 carried out research into the parts of the brain crucial for encoding and storage of information in the long-term memory store. Using fMRI, participants were monitored while performing a novel picture encoding task. Evidence was provided to show that the encoding of these pictures depends on how the ventral cortical regions and the hippocampal region interact. This highlights a link between the two which therefore creates a valid contribution to our understanding of the mind as it identifies the parts of the brain crucial for engaging in essential mental processes. On the other hand, although this link can be identified, the method used by cognitive neuroscientists cannot explain exactly how the hippocampal formation is crucial in the encoding of information in long-term memory meaning that it cannot be explained as to why it is needed and what exactly would happen to the encoding process if damage to this formation was to occur. In terms of the technique itself, low temporal resolution and high expense can be noted as another
Due to this, it has been deemed difficult to determine which deficit is the consequence of which part of a lesion. To overcome this problem, other methods are being used to aid in the visualisation of memory processes in the healthy parts of the brain. These come in the form of functional neuroimaging studies using Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). These studies have allowed researchers to target specific memory processes using targeted psychological experiments. However, with all psychological experiments, there are limitations to using neuroimaging equipment. PET and fMRI attain their signals from local changes in blood flow or metabolism correlated with neural activity rather than from brain waves (or signals). The local vascular changes affect the distribution of an injected radionuclide (e.g. O15) in PET or magnetic properties that are blood-oxygen level dependent (BOLD) in fMRI. The indirect measure of neural activity limits the temporal and spatial fidelity of activations.
The human brain is one of the most complex structures in the human body. This organ regulates virtually all human activity and controls "higher" mental activity such as thought, reason, and abstraction. Because the brain is so complex, it is essential that neuroscientists be able to study brain functions in the living brain. New technologies in brain imaging, or neuroimaging, have made this possible. These brain imaging technologies have helped neuroscientists to 1) understand the relationship between specific areas of the brain and brain functions, 2) locate areas of the brain affected by neurological disorders, and 3) develop new methods of treating disorders of the brain.
In neuropsychology and behavioral neuroscience, multiple methods have been used to create relations between brain function and behavior in addition to studying how the brain is stimulated to produce action. Static and Dynamic imagery techniques of observation have been used over the years to map out brain regions and understand relationships between internal brain activity and external behavior. However, one brain study method has proven to be a groundbreaking process that has managed to create other derivative methods and increased human understanding of the effects of brain activity alterations. This method is known as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).
Anderson, J.R. & Lebiere, C. (2003). The Newell Test for a theory of cognition. Behavioral and
MRIs are used to allows researchers to see structures in the brain (2007) A great advantage to using MRI is it is non-invasive. The less researchers harm their patients the more ethical it is which can help with the validity. The downside is however, researchers can only use MRIs to look at activation in the brain making its use limited. A study that can show how MRI scans care used to investigate the relationships between biological factors and behavior is Maguire et al. (2000). The aim of this study was to determine if well experienced taxi drivers in London would have differing hippocampus structures compared to London bus drivers. MRI scans were used to scan the structure of their hippocampus, and measured the amount of gray matter in their brain. Maguire noticed there was a larger amount of gray matter found in taxi drivers. Maguire found the data could suggest that the increase amount of gray matter in the hippocampus of taxi drivers is due to the active and repetitive use of the spatial memory skills required to remember roads; the neurons are stronger in areas of the brain which are used most. Maguire because of the MRI technology was able to observe the structures of the subject's brains and find a correlation between environment and neuroplasticity which has been known to affects behavior in terms of memory. Maguire effectively used MRI scans to investigate the structure of the hippocampus, he could not have done this using other technologies such as an EEG or a PET scan. With this study Maguire was able to see the biological factor of brains areas and the hippocampus as well as the behavior of memory and spacial
Recently, neuroscientists have improved the quality of research through the development of new tools that allow a better understanding of the brain. Methods like Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) offer to the scientists the capability of exploring the brain from a deep perspective combining both a good spatial and time resolution (Nelson, 2008). Furthermore, the MRI images not only allow the study of the anatomy of the brain (i.e. structural images), but also the activation of different areas when a task is being performed (i.e. functional MRI). For example MRI images can be utilized to do comparisons in multiple brains in order to identify structural changes (i.e. gray matter loss) or to explore different patterns of activation when a “reading comprehension” task is carried out while scanning the subjects; the latter is known as functional MRI (fMRI). Subsequently, it is possible to make comparisons between healthy and unhealthy brains to understand the underlying neural mechanism of diseases (Gazzaniga, 2013).
If we measure the brain activity, it can be possible for us to determine the way we think, memory, emotions. To measure brain’s activity you have to know the pattern of activity that is connected with each object, memory, or way of thinking. In the study mentioned in the first reading it shows the power of fMRI that measured, the response to each picture, that was presented to participants. I think it is really interesting how each brain activity was measured voxel to voxel. The importance of voxel was to determine which of them activated a specific picture, how strong activation was and what were the brain areas activated. So the main point was to determine what neural pattern was followed for each class of objects presented. The average accuracy
I also found it interested that the different views were very different. They all connected in a way, but they all took a different approach at neuroimaging. There will always be different views on things such as this because everyone has their own opinion. In this course, I will use this article in several ways. The article states that “neuroscience will be the primary vehicle for discovering how to prevent and cure mental illness.” Learning about the different beliefs and the reason behind neuroimaging is important to learn and grow. fMRI was a huge step for mental health research. It helped to bring new ideas in and it was overall very helpful in gathering a good image of the brain. Because of the detailed images, it helped scientist to notice what areas of the brain were having problems. Understand each view on neuroimaging mentioned in this article will help us to draw our own conclusions about the positive information retained from such science and also what parts of neuroimaging still need
Title: Evaluate experimental and brain-imaging techniques and consider what they tell us about the brain and cognitive behaviour in typical and atypical individuals.
The Behavioral Cognitive Continuum and the Model of Human Occupation are the two frames of references used throughout the 6 week sessions. The Model of Human Occupation takes on holistic approach universally addressing all ages, cultures and disabilities. The Kawa Model within the Model of Human Occupation aims to bring awareness to one’s life flow and health. Through the use of the Kawa Model, the sessions strive to bring awareness to the deficits the students are facing in school as a result of their traumatic brain injury (TBI). The 6 sessions aspire to increase students’ self-awareness and teach them methods and skills to increase their performance capacity towards academic success because individuals are an open system which have the ability to reorganize.
At the bottom back of the brain is where the occipital lobes are located; they are covered by the visual cortex. This area of the brain is “involved in object recognition and is an area of interest in research on decoding, because it has been suggested to house a word form area. This area is a part of the visual cortex specialized for recognizing print (Hruby, Goswami, Frederiksen, & Perfetti, 2011). As we move upward, we encounter the parietal lobes. These lobes are responsible for receiving “tactile information such as temperature, pain, and pressure, and integrate this information with sights and sounds” (Wolf & Nevills, 2008). The temporal lobes, are covered by the auditory cortex. This area is responsible for taking in and interpreting auditory stimuli (Wolf & Nevills, 2008). Within the temporal lobes lies the area where speech and memory are produced. These two areas are Wernicke's area and the Hippocampus. Wernicke’s area is the semantic processing center and is a key component of conscious comprehension of the spoken words (Wolf & Nevills, 2008). The hippocampus is where short-term memory is converted to long-term memory. According to Zull (2002), the hippocampus does not store memory itself, instead it finds a way back to various parts of the cortex in a form that is susceptible to recall, or reassembly, any time later. The last lobes are the frontal lobes. The cortex covering these lobes is known as the association cortex (Wolf & Nevills,
According to Klein (2010) functional neuroimaging technologies, such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), have revolutionized neuroscience, and provided crucial tools that link cognitive psychology and traditional neuroscientific models in the diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders (Klein, 2010; Sabb & Bilder, 2006). Neuroimaging refers to a collection of techniques that allow scientists to investigate the functions of the brain through the detection of metabolic changes caused by the increase in neural activity during a task (Klein, 2010). Similarly, Moran and Zaki (2013) state that functional neuroimaging has become a primary tool in the study of human psychology (Moran & Zaki, 2013).
The used evidence from dozens of fMRI brain experiments, to see the changes in activities in the PMN during the completion of specific mental tasks and during brain resting states - when the brain is involved in no particular activity or mental challenge.
Neuroimaging is a multidiscipline science and experts from the field of psychology, statistics, physics and physiology all contribute to its further development (Poldrack et al., 2007). In the last 20 years the imaging techniques developed from single proton emission tomography (SPET) to positron emission tomography (PET) and finally to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) (Page, 2006). Their applications are numerous in experimental and cognitive psychology. However, at one level they can constitute another dependent variable (brain activity) as a response to an independent variable (stimulus manipulation) and at the other level, understanding the structure and processes of the brain can shed light on ‘normal’ cognitive
Over the last hundred years much was learned about the localisation of function in the human brain than ever before. Gall and his followers through the trials of phrenology started investigating the functions of the brain but soon that was replaced by the by solid neuroscientific evidence from experiments in other animals (Kringebach & Rolls, 2004). However, even with the the evolution of human neuroimaging over the last 15–20 years, still some researchers use this technique in a way that resembles a kind of modern-day phrenology (Kringebach & Rolls, 2004). Furthermore, it is of vital importance to be aware of the fact that these interesting pictures of the brain can potentially mislead us if not interpreting them based on the wealth of scientific evidence gained by diverse and various methods from both humans and other animals(Kringebach & Rolls, 2004).