University Essay: Neuroimaging and Neural Basis of Cognition

This essay delves into the realm of neuroimaging techniques within biological psychology, investigating their impact on understanding the neural basis of cognition. It begins by introducing various neuroimaging methods such as fMRI and PET scans, highlighting their ability to visualize brain activity during psychological tasks. The essay then explores the advantages of these techniques, including their non-invasive nature and ability to correlate brain activity with cognitive processes, while also comparing them to behavioral methods. It also discusses the advantages of neuroimaging in neuropsychological studies, as well as specific advantages compared to behavioral methods. However, the essay also acknowledges the disadvantages, such as the correlational nature of the data, the limitations in providing information on the function of brain regions, and potential health risks associated with certain techniques. The essay concludes by assessing whether neuroimaging has replaced the need for other methods, providing a comprehensive overview of the field.

Running head: BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Has neuroimaging replaced the need for other methods of studying the neural basis of cognition?
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Introduction- Neuroimaging refers to various techniques that involve brain-scanning and
assist in observing the different levels of activity in the brain of a participant while they are
performing some psychological tasks. These techniques are used to directly or indirectly create
an image of the structure, function and pharmacology of the nervous system (de Notaris et al.,
2013). Various attempts had been taken towards the end of nineteenth century, to discover the
different mental processes that drive all human functions and behavior. It was a common
assumption that mental processing in the brain is unconsciously produced. Reaction time and
response accuracies were used to study this field. The neural basis of cognition was studied
among patients who suffered from brain damage in the 1970s and the assumption was made that
brains are composed of modules that are arranged in a structural and functional pattern. The
history of neuroimaging began with the use of pneumoencephalography in the 1990s (Webb,
2013).
This altered the relative density of the brain and a better x-ray image was obtained.
Position Emission Tomography (PET), Computed tomography (CT) and functional Magnetic
Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scans are the most commonly used neuroimaging techniques used to
study neural cognition. This essay will illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of
neuroimaging techniques and whether it can be considered as the best method to detect mental
processes.
Advantages of neuroimaging techniques- Functional techniques are considered as the
mainstay in studying cognitive neuroscience owing to their ability to help us in determining the
association of neural activity in the brain with the ability to perform complex cognitive tasks. It
also determines the neural activity during illness (Wintermark et al., 2015). This approach works
by identifying and isolating the different brain structures that are involved in complex cognitive

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processes. These techniques produce images of the brain, without the requirement of any skin
incision, surgery, or direct contact with the internal organs of the body. The major advantage of
these techniques lies in the fact that they are noninvasive procedures that result in visualization
of the entire structure and functionality of human brain.
The neuroimaging techniques help in comparing the activation levels among different
subjects and further assists in discovering the association between performance levels among the
subjects and their level of activation (Boly et al., 2016). In addition, the technique can also be
utilized to compare between various trials that further helps in associating the activated regions
of the brain with presence of errors in the trial. Generally, two types of imaging agents are used
for these studies.
 Passive agents, which modulate an external signals. Higher doses of passive contrast
agents are used to delineate endogenous contrasts.
 Probes such as, bioluminescent dyes and radiotracers that produce autonomous signals.
Some fluorescent probes and MRI contrast agents lead to transformation of an external
signal (Simó et al., 2013).
Furthermore, the techniques help to demonstrate that human beings not suffering from any
neurological damage or lesions are able to recruit specific regions of the brain to carry out
cognitive processes.
Advantages of neuroimaging in neuropsychological studies- Neuropsychological studies
focus on the structure and function of the brain and relate them to human behavior and
psychological processes. However, they do not concentrate on the cognitive processes of the
brain. Neuroimaging studies overcome this drawback and help to gain a better understanding of

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cognition (Beauregard, 2014). They help in drawing inferences regarding engagement of
particular cognitive processes from activated brain regions. Lesions in the brain that result in
long term memory deficits make it difficult to figure out associations between memory encoding
and retrieval. However, neuroimaging studies provide images that help in recognition of brain
regions that are associated with storage, encoding and retrieval of long term memory (Zatorre,
Fields & Johansen-Berg, 2012).
The lesion methods fail to distinguish between the functions of undamaged regions and
damaged focal regions of the brain. This makes it difficult to interpret the overlay of plots.
Moreover, intact regions of the brain can get incapacitated after suffering damage (Fox et al.,
2016). Thus, it can be stated that despite the complexities of the brain structures and its
functioning, the advances in neuroimaging studies are efficient in providing relevant scientific
insights about the brain (Guillory & Bujarski, 2014).
Advantages of neuroimaging compared to behavioural methods- There are specific
advantages of PET and fMRI in comparison to behavioural methods. Behavioural methods fail to
measure all the cognitive processes of the brain such as, reaction time. Further, they are unable to
measure accuracy of the studies. On the other hand, neuroimaging techniques enable in studying
the subtle cognitive processes such as memory formation and language comprehension
(Bernardy et al., 2012). Thereby, they help in mapping brain activities and provide detailed
information about the temporal features of all relevant neural processes.
According to Henson (2005) haemodynamic techniques are used to measure variations in the
metabolic demands owing to differences that arise in the neuronal mean activity. This leads to
changes in local blood supply. The Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent (BOLD) signal,

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measured by fRMI and the PET signal interpret the complex interaction of oxygenation levels,
blood flow and its volume. They help in reflecting several seconds of neural activity integration.
Furthermore, clues are obtained regarding the sensory integration mechanism while
determining the circumstances that result in production of activity in visual cortex under the
influence of a tactile stimulus, while performing neuroimaging. However, behavioural studies
fail to provide such data (Beer & Williams, 2015). Furthermore, contact with other information
sources such as, such as, anatomical data that depicts connection between different brain regions
and single-cell recording data can be obtained from imaging studies. This assists establishment
of cognitive theories (Henson, 2005).
Evidence from neuroimaging studies also suggest that visual stimuli repetition results in
haemodynamic response reduction in the extrastriate occipitotemporal cortex (Kahl, Winter &
Schweiger, 2012). This reduction is able to survive various intervening stimuli and becomes
equal to amount of perceptual priming.
The concept of function-to-structure mapping indicates several situations where functional
imaging becomes pertinent in identifying the engagement of different brain locations and the
underlying psychological process. It helps in forming a bridge between psychological theories
and neuroimaging data. The function-to-structure deduction depicts implications of brain activity
in different experimental conditions that have qualitative dissimilarities between them
(Tamangani, 2016). Thus, the null hypothesis gets rejected and no difference exists between
them. PET traces have proved effective in discovering several drug targets for Alzheimer’s
disease by binding the plaque forming beta-amyloid and tau proteins (Zhang et al., 2012). O-H2O

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is used as a gold standard in order to study the pathological changes of the brain. Advantages of
MRI lie in the fact that it detects an endogenous contrast agent with high sensitivity.
There were several criticisms that compared neuroimaging to phrenology. However, there are
significant difference between them with respect to the structures that are investigated, the
functions being analysed and the fact that functional neuroimaging studies are interventional.
The factors can be manipulated and the system being investigated can be perturbed to observe
changes in brain activity. Other criticisms were associated with the correlational nature of the
data, the independence of algorithms and the fact that functional neuroimaging does not provide
direct information on how a task is performed (Henson, 2005).
According to the theory proposed by Kosslyn, the information that is stored in associative
memory is not only utilized to guide the mechanisms that control attention shift but also to prime
the representations of the encoding system. It was proposed that cooperative computation is
formed by efferent connections (Kosslyn, 1999). He proposed that two minimally tasks are
compared using neuroimaging experiments. Varying a single aspect of a task each time produces
better results. In addition, it identified areas of the brain that performs visual information
processing and also stated that the putative functions of each area need not be studied separately.
However, a study featuring the entire system can be designed that focuses on a plethora of tasks.
The second question addressed was related to the areas that implement simple system, and
found that comparison between additional activation of brain areas when subordinate terms and
entry-level terms were evaluated using PET, helped in identifying the areas related to associative
memory. It suggested that activation of an area was not adequate to infer its contribution to a
certain performance. It also helped in establishing that neuroimaging can help in revealing

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distinctions (Kosslyn, 1999). It was further suggested that disrupting a particular area can help in
discovering whether the process implemented plays a functional role on conferring ability
(Karatas & Toy, 2014). In addition, it stated that neuroimaging acts a valuable tool in providing
information on the mechanism that underlies the working of various structures and processes.
Disadvantages of neuroimaging techniques- It helps in providing only correlation between
the cognitive process and specific brain locations. PET and fMRI fail to provide information on
the function of brain regions and their association between the cognitive processes. The
activation of a particular task in the left hemisphere can appear completely bilateral owing to the
presence of homotopic neural connections between the two hemispheres. Neuroimaging
techniques can therefore make the roles of the left hemisphere appear as that of both the
hemispheres. Neuroimaging studies make it difficult to discover the regions that do not undergo
any change and are constantly functioning (Nam, Barrack & Potter, 2014).
The imaging studies fail to depict any changes in blood flow. This results in images that
show no involvement of the concerned area in the cognitive process and thereby gives
misleading results.
PET scans are widely used to generate images that demonstrate structural abnormalities,
neuronal functionalities and biochemical changes in the brain. However, a major setback
to PET is that they afford relatively poor spatial resolution. The 2D or 3D images formed are
often not clear and have poor resolution (Moriarty, Langleben & Provenzale, 2013). This makes
it difficult to visualize the regions of the brain and produces incorrect results. Therefore, PET is
often used in combination with fMRI. In addition, the radiations can result in several health risks
even on application in small doses.

7BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Furthermore, the use of MRI and fMRI imaging techniques is imperative to neurobiology
research and in complex medical cases. The fact that they do not rely on the use of ionizing
harmful radiations makes them superior. However, they do have some disadvantages as well.
The major risk associated with MRI the presence of metal equipments such as any implants or
pacemaker in the person bring subjected to the procedure (Rana, Masroor & Khan, 2013). The
metal bodies often create safety hazards. Moreover, these techniques can result in bouts of
claustrophobia among certain individuals. This may occur due to the fact that extremely tight
spaces are used to conduct the scans. Individuals, exposed to these techniques for a prolonged
time period may also suffer from hearing impairments due to the loud noise generated from the
instruments. Page (2006) further argues on the fats proposed by Henson, which claim that
unwarranted inference of two functions can be avoided by making a specific detail for the neural
mechanisms that are being precisely considered. However, these theories are remotely
practicable for most real time cognitive processes. The arguments also suggest that the trend of
cognitive neuroimaging would create less negative effects if the imaging methods become cheap
and user friendly. He also suggested that functional neuroimaging studies absorb relatively large
proportion of funding.
In addition, Page argued that cognitive psychology should get a better supply of mindscanners in
order to be a successful scientific field. He suggested that mind scanners are able to identify the
areas that present significant theoretical disputes and should be capable to design, run and
analyze the experimental tests. Therefore, he suggested that functional neuroimaging plays a
significant role in cognitive theory development when accompanied with a secure supply of
mindscanners.

8BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
He further argued that media outlets publish articles with pictures that suggest that scientists
have discovered a part of the brain that activates in people performing a certain task. Page stated
that if the general public is given the idea that production of such pictures represents the work
done by cognitive psychologists, then it would suggest that psychologists who do not publish
such pictures fail to perform their job and would increase the risk of tyranny of graphics (Page,
2006).
Furthermore, no good evidences can be obtained that suggest that similar function can be
performed in two different regions. Therefore, there are some doubts related to the contribution
of functional neuroimaging techniques in understanding cognitive process (Page, 2006). In
addition, it can be stated that over relying on neuroimaging techniques, increase provisions for
recognition of cognitive psychology as a branch of medical science (Mather, Cacioppo &
Kanwisher, 2013). This can lead to long term problems where an increase in funding for
neuroimaging to study cognitive approaches might give rise to questions on their immediate
benefits on human health.
Conclusion- To summarise, neuroimaging generally follows a follows a neurological
examination where the physician wants further investigation of the underlying cause that might
have resulted in the neurological disorder. The imaging can be either structural or functional
imaging. While the former deals with providing an image that depict a detailed structure of the
nervous system and helps in diagnosing injuries and intracranial diseases, the latter diagnoses
lesions in the brain and is often used for research on cognitive psychology. The imaging
techniques are also utilized to build brain-computer interfaces.

9BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY
Therefore, these techniques work best in understanding the integration between different
areas of the brain during the operation of various mental processes. To conclude, neuroimaging
mapping provides evidence for the high degree of specialization among the different brain
regions that provides a deeper understanding of cognitive psychology. However there are major
disadvantages as well. Thus, it cannot be stated whether neuroimaging is superior to other
conventional methods to study neural cognition.

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