Cognitive Neuroscience Essay

“I don’t see that schools are applying the best knowledge of how minds work. Schools should be the best place for applied neuroscience, taking the latest advances in cognitive research and applying it to the job of educating minds.” These are words by Dr. Arthur Lavin, an Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics at Case Western School of Medicine and a pediatrician in private practice. He said these during an interview where he intended to show the discrepancy that is affecting the education especially that which is emanating from modern research in psychology and the emergence of the new area of scientific study called the cognitive neuroscience.

By definition, cognitive neuroscience is a field in psychology that is more focused on the understanding of more complex functions of the brain such as memory, language, perception emotions and many others and their implementation in the brain and how they interact with various disciplines of psychology. Generally, cognitive neuroscience is more interested in the interpretation f the psychological factors in the mental operations and the implications that are registered in the brain as recognition (David, A. and Kopelman, M., 2009). 

This proposal aims at providing a solution to the widening gap brought by the technological advancements and the impacts on the non invasive brain imaging. It will help in coming up with better scientific methods of studying the relation ship between the brain activities and cognitive mechanisms.

The proposal also seeks to establish the importance and the point of interaction between the psychological process and the cognitive functions which later determines the resultant behaviors of individuals and the characteristics that they exhibit.

Upon approval of this proposal there will be better understanding of the operation relationship that underlie the brain events and the reflection on the interdisciplinary characteristic of the psychology of different individuals.

Literature review

In the research about cognitive neuroscience, several documented information is put to use which ahs showed great contribution in the area of neuroscience. One of the literatures used is a journal by an author called Pennington. In his journal entitled ‘How neuropsychology informs our understanding of developmental disorders’, the author has expressed concern over the rising number of cases which beats the field of psychology. He has postulated the need to include cognitive neuroscience study to solve the problem (Pennington, B. F., 2009).

The literature review has greatly influenced my method of approach to this research. Prior to the review, I had diverging ideologies which did not necessitate the need of cognitive neuroscience as an independent area of study. The review has brought out the need and the importance of the study thereby changing my altitude of its inconsideration in the research area.

My previous personal experiences have taught me the need for a research especially with the psychology as an area of study. It is this prior experience that has acted s a driving force towards the cognitive neuroscience in a bid to quench my dire need to explore the field for more factual knowledge.

Problem

The field of psychology has gained advocacy for many years since its invention in the seventeenth century. The field has shown relevance to various inter-relational characteristics and behaviors and has also explained the occurrences attributed to observation of individuals. Due to this popularity, psychology has the solution to many experts who wish to understand the human behaviors. However, the field has experienced challenges emanating from more precise and particular areas which have called for the redefinition in the field of psychology. Cognitive neuroscience is the resultant study which intends to solve more complex case which goes beyond psychological comprehension.

The lack of scientific knowledge to the understanding of the brain functions attributed to non invasive brain characteristics is the major problem in psychology. The introduction of this new area of study has the capacity to detect the brain pars and attribute them to the characteristic displayed. Consequently there has been lack of point of interaction between the brain/cognitive process and the psychology processes. This problem has exposed the field of psychology to a challenge where it has not been able to explain some occurrences especially the cognitive ones.

Purpose

The proposal will seek to overcome the challenge of upcoming inabilities of relating psychology and cognitive processes. For psychology as an area of study to maintain its popularity as one of the major disciplines, it is necessary for it to review its viability through its ability to meet its objectives. It is very encouraging for a study that has been thriving in this field for so long could easily succumb to such a level that it had introduce a new discipline to overcome the challenge.  There lie many more issues that they have to sort within themselves considering its years of engagement in the education of psychology. This field has always had a reputation to this discipline due to its ability to offer fields that are very relevant to the contemporary world issues. The greatest problem can be a case where psychology could not relate behaviors with cognition (Goldstein, L. and McNei, M., 2005).

The only way that psychology could come back to the high level of attention to details and offer of high quality education fields is through introduction of cognitive neuroscience study. There is need to have an area of study that delivers to solve new arising issues as a matter of emergence so that relevance can be evidenced.

Cognitive neuroscience is useful in that it will shift the study from the information processing approach to the cognitive psychology approach. This will act as an avenue for introduction of computer based methods which have higher working capabilities and accuracy (Smillie, L. D., 2008).  

The study is important for psychology experts especially the neuroscientists. This is because they are the ones who are facing the challenges of proving the capability of their expertise to solve the new issues which have become impossibility to the psychologists alone.

Research product

The research will result to scholarly manuscripts where the experts as well as the upcoming neurologist will find important in their day to day activities. The research will provide facts and form the fundamentals in the field of neuroscience for the students and advance the knowledge of the already practicing individuals.

Conclusion

Advancement is the key objective of every discipline in any area of study. The use of research is vital as a tool for acknowledging the areas for advancement. The introduction of cognitive neuroscience has made it possible to bridge the gap brought about by diverse interpretation and has necessitated the attachment of the characteristics exhibited by individual with the mental process in the same individual. Consequently the upcoming technology has been a push to the field of psychology to incorporate new ways of mental assessment that are computer based. 

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