Mind and Brain - 9780262526654

Cognitive neuroscience explores the relationship between our minds and our brains,most recently by drawing on brain imaging techniques to align neural mechanisms with psychologicalprocesses. In Mind and Brain, William Uttal offers a critical review of cognitiveneuroscience, examining both its history and modern developments in the field. He pays particularattention to the role of brain imaging--especially functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)--instudying the mind-brain relationship. He argues that, despite the explosive growth of this new modeof research, there has been more hyperbole than critical analysis of what experimental outcomesreally mean. With Mind and Brain, Uttal attempts a synoptic synthesis of thissubstantial body of scientific literature.

Uttal considers psychological andbehavioral concerns that can help guide the neuroscientific discussion; work done before the adventof imaging systems; and what brain imaging has brought to recent research. Cognitive neuroscience,Uttal argues, is truly both cognitive and neuroscientific. Both approaches are necessary and neitheris sufficient to make sense of the greatest scientific issue of all: how the brain makes themind.