Abstract
It is unclear that we will come to a better understanding of mental
processes simply by observing which neural loci are activated while
subjects perform a task. Rather, I suggest here that it is better
to come armed with a question that directs one to design tasks in
ways that take advantage of the strengths of neuroimaging techniques
(particularly positron emission tomography and functional magnetic
resonance imaging). Here I develop a taxonomy of types of questions
that can be easily addressed by such techniques. The first class
of questions focuses on how information processing is implemented
in the brain; these questions can be posed at a very coarse scale,
focusing on the entire system that confers a particular ability,
or at increasingly more specific scales, ultimately focusing on individual
structures or processes. The second class of questions focuses on
specifying when particular processes and structures are invoked;
these questions focus on how one can use patterns of activation to
infer that specific processes and structures were invoked, and on
how processing changes in different circumstances. The use of neuroimaging
to address these questions is illustrated with results from experiments
on visual cognition, and caveats regarding the logic of inference
in each case are noted. Finally, the necessary interplay between
neuroimaging and behavioural studies is stressed.
- anatomy
- brain,brain:
- emission-computed,visual
- histology,brain:
- imaging,cognition,cognition:
- imaging,mental
- neurological,tomography,
- perception,visual
- perception:
- physiology
- physiology,brain:
- physiology,humans,magnetic
- physiology,models,
- processes,mental
- processes:
- radionuclide
- resonance
- \&
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