Running Head: Cognitive Neuroscience

Cognitive Neuroscience
Madeline Martinez
University of Texas at El Paso

Running Head: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE

Abstract
The number of neurons in the human brain is equal to that of perceptible galaxies in the universe:
one hundred billion. It not only puts together thought and extremely corresponding movements
but does so via chemical and electrical compulsions. Executed by the nervous system, these
cognitive functions form the conscious and subconscious mind. Known as the Explanatory
Gap, humans lack of deliberate mindfulness of the machines and mechanisms in their heads.
Moreover, the neurological processes it performs at every second of every day are yet to be
widely comprehended. The growth of research rears ethical, philosophical, and psychological
questions in the field of neuroscience. Known as cognitive neuroscience, the neural mechanisms
underlying cognition, or thought, work to describe how the brain creates the mind. Aiding
psychologists in understanding how the physical and biological parts of the brain influence or
thoughts, emotions, memories, and other less tangible parts, is the goal of this specialized study.
An algorithmic flow chart is being developed coordinating brain stimulation with specific
functions. New methods such as positron emission tomography and function magnetic imaging
have illuminated the abilities and disabilities present in the brain. Grasping these topics allows
for practical application of mental health knowledge and the consecutive assessment of so in a
variety of patients suggest a soon understanding of the neural basis in a biological context.

Running Head: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE

Cognitive Neuroscience
Humans are granted their capacity for talent, linguistic, ethical judgments, and rational
thought thanks to the brain. Responsible for each individuals temperament, remembrances,
movements, and their sense of the world, the brain not only puts together thought and highly
coordinated physical actions but simultaneously regulate unconscious body means vital for life.
Astoundingly, a three-pound jellylike mass of fat and protein is what makes every human, well,
human.
The brain is one of the largest and most multifarious structures in the human body,
created from more than 100 billion nerves communicating in trillions of connections called
synapses. The mind is made up of many specialized regions that work together. The cortex is the
outermost layer of brain cells, where thinking and voluntary movements begin. Located between
the spinal cord and the rest of the brain is the brain stem, which controls breathing and sleep. The
basal ganglia are a cluster of structures in the center of the brain that organize messages between
multiple other brain areas. At the base and the back of the brain is the cerebellum; it is
accountable for coordination and balance. The brain is enclosed by a layer of tissue called
meninges and protected from injury by the cranium. Although the brain is the nervous systems
central hub, it amazingly lacks sensory nerves and therefore cannot feel pain (Mandal, 2013).
The brains nerve cells are known as neurons, which constitute the organs gray matter.
These neurons convey and collect electrochemical signals that are transferred via a network of
millions of nerve fibers called dendrites and axons. These are the brains white matter. The
difficulty is that science deficiencies an adequate metaphysics for uniting both mind and matter.
The mind cannot exist without a functional brain, but could never envisage consciousness on the
basis of a meticulous bodily description of the brain (Grassie, 2011). Even without conscious

Running Head: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE

awareness, known as the Explanatory Gap, the mind is relentlessly in contact. The mind-brain
does nothing by itself, but when conjoined configures an entire body, from vocal chords to
oppositional thumbs, tool, language, families, societies, and culture.
A single neuron may be beautiful to the discerning eye of neuroscientists, but it is fairly
feeble all by itself. A great deal can be learned about a brain by studying neurons chemistry.
That being said, the neuron itself could not be projected or passably portrayed solely on the
source of its principal components, nor can a brain be amply understood by cataloging its
constituents. The human brain is an emergent marvel, from individual neurotransmissions to
their combined cognitive thought process necessary for consciousness and subconscious actions.
This literature review seeks to reflect on the most complicated object in the known universe from
neural activity to scientific contributions by answering:

What is the Explanatory Gap?

What is cognitive neuroscience?
How does it work?
What does it do?
What is the Explanatory Gap?
It is difficult for beings to recognize themselvestheir subjective experiences, thoughts,

and emotionsin the neurological description of the brain. They naturally have no conscious
awareness of the cognitive modules and machines in their head. Cognitive neuroscientists refer
to this as the Explanatory Gap. The physical descriptions of the manner in which the brain
works at the level of neurons, brain anatomy, and neurological processes bear no similitude to
the subjective experiences of individuals with wits having involved perceptive and expressive
states. As there is yet to be a neurological definition of consciousness, there is no stratagem to
measure presence or absence of such. This is referred to as the Hard Problem in consciousness
studies. Researchers can analyze brains and learn a multitude of remarkable and realistic things,

Running Head: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE

their functions and dysfunctions, but this does not deliver near an understanding what individual
mindful occurrence is or how the brain creates it. It can be witnessed that a diseased or damaged
mind may lose function or consciousness, but unobservable what cognition and consciousness
are at the level of neural code (Harman, n.d.).
Many are optimistic that the Explanatory Gap is slowly closing, allowing cognitive
scientists to recognize the neural code and be capable of translating the machine language of
the brain into the software applications of human consciousness. Much progress has been
made in understanding how the brain purposes; scientists have probed, prodded, tested,
measured, dissected, and scanned innumerable brains, both human and animal.
Growth in the neurosciences increases the number of other interesting philosophical
questions, which essentially overlap with psychological and theological anxieties. If the brain is
run on a deterministic scheme, then how may the concepts of free will, moral responsibility, and
creative choice vary? If personality is innately allied to cerebral chemistry should the dualism
between brain and mind be rejected? In considering mental illness, is it best not to waste time
with discourse therapy or just tackle these maladies with medications?
What is cognitive neuroscience?
Neuroscience is the study of the biological functions of the brain and nervous system.
Human beings are intrinsically complicated animals, with innately complex thought processes.
Nonetheless, they are ultimately controlled by chemicals and electrical impulses stemming from
the mind (McGowan, 2014). Although an exceedingly abridged explanation, the actual processes
the brain practices in order to generate certain results are very convoluted. The enigma of what
makes humans pulse can be illuminated, in part, by cognitive neuroscience. Cognitive
neuroscience is the study of the neural mechanisms underlying cognition, or thought.

Running Head: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE

Philosophers have always been absorbed in the mind. Aristotle alleged the brain was the
bodys cooling system while the aptitude for intellect was located in the heart. It is proposed that
the first person to believe otherwise was Galen, a Roman doctor in the second century AD. Yet
he believed that personality and emotion were not produced by the brain, but rather by the
organs. Andreas Vesalius, an anatomist, and a physician was the leading to believe that the brain
and the nervous system are the centers of mind and sentiment (Stanford, 2014). Psychology, a
foremost contributing field to cognitive neuroscience, emerged from philosophical reasoning
about the mind.
Though the task of cognitive neuroscience is to describe how the brain creates the mind,
historically it has progressed by investigating how a specific area of the brain provisions a set
mental faculty. Early efforts to subdivide the brain proved to be problematic. The phrenologist
movement failed to source a systematic basis for its theories and was subsequently rejected. The
aggregate field view, defined that all areas of the brain participated in all behavior, was also
rejected as a result of brain mapping, but eventually developed through methods such as positron
emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic imaging (MRI). Gestalt theory,
neuropsychology, and the cognitive revolutions were all major turning points in the creation of
cognitive neuroscience as a field (McLelland, 2001). Linking ideas and techniques, they enabled
researchers to make more connections between behavior and its neural substrates.
In the 1970s a small group of scientists and psychologists arranged a dinner. Besides the
conversation and cuisine, these meal plans additionally encompassed pondering how the brain
enables the mind. That night a taxi was shared to the supper by Michael Gazzaniga, a
neuroscientist, and George Miller, a cognitive psychologist. Respectively considered the

Running Head: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE

godfather of cognitive neuroscience and a founder of the field of cognitive psychology, in 1977
they coined the name cognitive neuroscience (Stanford, 2014).
The goal of this type of neuroscience is to aid psychologists in understanding how the
physical and biological parts of the brain influence or create the less tangible parts, such as
thoughts, emotions, and memories. Methods employed in the cognitive neuroscience include
psychophysical experiments, functional neuroimaging, electrophysiological studies of neural
systems, and increasingly, cognitive genomics and behavioral genetics. Overlapping with
disciplines such as physiological psychology, cognitive psychology, and neuropsychology, the
study centers on the neural substrates of intellectual progressions and their demeanor
manifestations (National Science Foundation, 2016). Cognitive neuroscience relies upon theories
in cognitive science coupled with ratification from neuropsychology, and computational
reasoning.
How does it work?
When the brain is inspected under a powerful microscope, it visible to consist of neurons,
lots, and lots of neurons. There are diverse types of neurons in the brain, and throughout the
central nervous system in the body, but they all share a rudimentary structure. The cell body
contains the nucleus and organelle. Outspreading from the cell body are countless dendrite
trees and axon arms; these connect to other neurons. This network of connections ends in
synapses, linking each neuron with hundreds or thousands of other neurons. The neurons fire
electrical charge in the shape of chemical ions, where are arbitrated by an assortment of
neurochemicals that are fabricated endogenously by the brain.
There is a wealth of neurons in the human brain, estimated at 1011 (one hundred billion).
Each neuron has on average about 7 x 103 (seven thousand) synaptic connections. A toddler

Running Head: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE

child has about 1016 synapses (10 quadrillions), but this number regrettably decreases with age
to a more practicable number between 1015 to 5 x 1015 synapses (1 to 5 quadrillion). Think of it
this way: the number of neurons in your brain is around the same as the number of stars in the
Milky Way galaxy, one hundred billion (Grassie, 2011).
It requires a lot of energy to keep neurons firing. The roughly 1.5-kilogram weight of the
brain represents only 2% of a humans bodyweight and yet it consumes nearly 15% of cardiac
output, 20% of the bodys oxygen, and about 25% of glucose consumption. The brain needs
about 0.1 calories per minute at rest, and this can increase to as high as 1.5 calories per minute
with intellectual activity. When interviewed, neurosurgeon Dr. Shanker Sandrani said, from a
biophysical and evolutionary point of view, the human brain is an expensive article (personal
interview, 2016).
A cognitive neuroscientist is currently developing algorithmic flow charts that plot out
neural processes. A single command sets off an unbelievably multifaceted series of actions,
reactions, and feedback loops (Newberg, 2006). Luckily, humans need not be the least bit aware
of any of these processes to have brilliantly functional brains enabling them to mindlessly
perform both basic and bewildering mental undertakings every day.
What does it do?
Recently the focus of research has expanded from the establishing of brain areas for
individual functions in the adult mind using a single technology. Research topics in cognitive
neuroscience have included: sensory processes (including olfaction, touch and multi-sensory
integration), higher perceptual processes (for faces, music, rhythm, etc.), higher cognitive
functions (e.g., consciousness, decision-making, mathematics, mental imagery, navigation, and
reasoning), language (as in discourse, multilingualism and syntax), affect, attention, executive

Running Head: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE

functions, learning, memory, motor control, prediction, sleep, social processes, timing, and
uncertainty. Findings are further clarified by investigating evolving and transformational aspects
of phenomena through all ages across the span of life, as well as in neurological and psychiatric
disorders, such as Autism, Schizophrenia, and Parkinsons Disease, that provide models for
understanding healthy brain function (National Science Foundation, 2016). Not all mental,
emotional, and behavioral disorders are capable of being treated with counseling and
psychotherapy alone; several more severe conditions may need to be addressed with a
prescription as well. These medications alter how the brain functions, empowering it to work
more effectively or, in theory, how it is supposed to. By comprehending how the mind
mechanizes in relation to the physical aspects of the brain, scientists are often able to devise
further successful treatments for many unique ailments).
The latest frontiers in cognitive neuroscience research have emerged from investigations
that integrate data at different spatial and sequential scales from a variety of techniques. The
fields study includes neuroimaging techniques for measuring or inferring neural activity, such as
positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI);
optimal imaging techniques for measuring vascular changes, such as near infrared spectroscopy
(NIRS); techniques for sampling large population-level activity with outstanding temporal
resolution, such as electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MET), and
electrocorticography (ECoG); and techniques for determining structure-function relationships,
such as diffusion imaging techniques (tensor, weighted and spectral). Additional techniques
include non-invasive brain stimulation methods, such as transcranial magnetic stimulations
(TMS) and electrical stimulation (tES) techniques that may use direct current (tDCS), alternating
current (tACS) or random noise (tRNS) modes of stimulation (National Science Foundation,

Running Head: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE

2016). Expansions in noninvasive operative neuroimaging and associated data analysis systems
have moreover made it possible to use highly naturalistic stimuli and tasks such as feature films
depicting social interactions in cognitive neuroscience studies. Other practices include brain
lesion-system mapping, neurogenetic approaches, and computational modeling.
Cognitive neuroscience also looks at the properties of damage to the brain and
subsequent changes in the thought processes due to variations in neural circuitry resulting from
the loss. Studies of patients with a cognitive deficit due to brain lesions constitute an important
aspect of cognitive neuroscience. The majority of what is known about the specialized functions
of different areas of the brain comes from observing survivors of traumatic brain injuries or
stroke sufferers. Neuroscientists correlate the destruction of certain brain regions due to
hemorrhaging or injury with the loss of particular mental functions, for example, the loss of
motor-control, speech, or even particular parts or sets or word concepts, the latter known as
Aphasia (Blakemore, n.d.). Cognitive abilities and disabilities based on brain development are
studied and scrutinized under the subfield of developmental cognitive neuroscience.
Added attentions include machine-learning and multivariate analysis methods, restingstate and task-based connectomic and large scale-data analysis. Connective techniques now
consent to the simultaneous application of research methodologies, while other enhancements
have led to model-based tactics, wherein computational cognitive models can directly enlighten
neuroimaging results. With the advent of forward performances and combinations, current
progress in the field of cognitive neuroscience has moved from a modular, region-of-interest
(ROI), correlative approach, to a network-based description of neural states, with a focus on
casual apparatuses and connectivity (Bainbridge & Rocco, 2002).
Conclusion

Running Head: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE

10

Discoveries from cognitive neuroscience can elucidate functional brain organization,

such as the operations performed by a particular brain area within a network of dispersed,
distinct neural areas supporting specific cognitive, perceptual, motor, or affective actions or
representations. Moreover, these findings can bridge the Explanatory Gap and reveal how
consciousness is generated in the brain. Cognitive neuroscience can expose the extent and
sequencing of sub-processes, for example, by assimilating high temporal resolution MEG data
with high spatial resolution fMRI within subject and task. The effects on brain organization of
individual differences (including genetic variation), plasticity, and recovery of function following
damage to the nervous system have contributed greatly to the overall field of neuroscience and
the sciences in general. The neural code capable of translating the machine language into the
software applications is becoming more apparent. These successive assessments of brain
organization across species may allow the neural basis of such means to be understood in a
biological context.

Running Head: COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE

11

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