Editing Cognitive neuroscience (section)

{{short description|Scientific field}}
{{For|the academic journal|Cognitive Neuroscience (journal){{!}}Cognitive Neuroscience}}
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'''Cognitive neuroscience''' is the scientific field that is concerned with the study of the [[Biology|biological]] processes and aspects that underlie [[cognition]],<ref>Gazzaniga, Ivry and Mangun 2002, cf. title{{full|date=March 2025}}</ref> with a specific focus on the neural connections in the brain which are involved in [[mental process]]es.<ref name="Butler 2007">{{cite journal |last1=Butler |first1=Michael J.R. |last2=Senior |first2=Carl |title=Toward an Organizational Cognitive Neuroscience |journal=Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences |date=November 2007 |volume=1118 |issue=1 |pages=1–17 |doi=10.1196/annals.1412.009 |pmid=17717101 |bibcode=2007NYASA1118....1B }}</ref><ref name="Boone 2016">{{cite journal |last1=Boone |first1=Worth |last2=Piccinini |first2=Gualtiero |title=The cognitive neuroscience revolution |journal=Synthese |date=May 2016 |volume=193 |issue=5 |pages=1509–1534 |doi=10.1007/s11229-015-0783-4 |url=https://philarchive.org/rec/BOOTCN }}</ref> It addresses the questions of how cognitive activities are affected or controlled by neural circuits in the brain. Cognitive neuroscience is a branch of both [[neuroscience]] and [[psychology]], overlapping with disciplines such as [[behavioral neuroscience]], [[cognitive psychology]], [[physiological psychology]] and [[affective neuroscience]].<ref name="Gazzaniga 2002, p. xv">Gazzaniga 2002, p. xv</ref><ref name="Butler 2007" /><ref name="Boone 2016" /> Cognitive neuroscience relies upon theories in [[cognitive science]] coupled with evidence from [[neurobiology]], and [[Computational neuroscience|computational modeling]].<ref name="Butler 2007" /><ref name="Boone 2016" /><ref name="Gazzaniga 2002, p. xv"/>

Parts of the brain play an important role in this field. [[Neuron]]s play the most vital role, since the main point is to establish an understanding of cognition from a neural perspective, along with the different lobes of the [[cerebral cortex]].

Methods employed in cognitive neuroscience include experimental procedures from [[psychophysics]] and [[cognitive psychology]], [[functional neuroimaging]], [[electrophysiology]], [[cognitive genomics]], and [[behavioral genetics]].

Studies of patients with cognitive deficits due to brain [[lesion]]s constitute an important aspect of cognitive neuroscience. The damages in lesioned brains provide a comparable starting point on regards to healthy and fully functioning brains. These damages change the neural circuits in the brain and cause it to malfunction during basic cognitive processes, such as [[memory]] or [[learning]]. People have learning disabilities and such damage, can be compared with how the healthy neural circuits are functioning, and possibly draw conclusions about the basis of the affected cognitive processes. Some examples of learning disabilities in the brain include places in [[Wernicke's area]], the left side of the [[temporal lobe]], and [[Broca's area]] close to the frontal lobe.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Learning Disabilities {{!}} BRAIN |url=https://brainaacn.org/learning-disabilities/ |access-date=2022-04-27 |website=brainaacn.org}}</ref>

Also, cognitive abilities based on brain development are studied and examined under the subfield of [[developmental cognitive neuroscience]]. This shows brain development over time, analyzing differences and concocting possible reasons for those differences.

Theoretical approaches include [[computational neuroscience]] and [[cognitive psychology]].