Monday, March 26, 2012

The Areas of Study Around Cognition And Memory Loss

Simply put, Cognitive Science can be defined as an interdisciplinary of the mind and the processes thereof. Cognitive Science evaluates what cognition does and the way it basically works. What you are likely to come across is a plethora of varying methodologies that help in the study of cognitive science. In general, the research in Cognitive Science tends to cut across several fields of study such as computer science, neuroscience and psychology.

The first area of study that Cognitive Science helps to look at is the broad amount of behavioral experiments that are perpetually carried out. The best way to comprehend what brings about intelligent behavior is to conduct a study on this. Research within this area lies in both psychophysics and Cognitive psychology.

The ability to measure and identify the behavioral responses to varying stimuli is what can give us an understanding on stimuli and how they are brought about. For example, scientists are studying various behavioral traces, choices and observations to find out how people are able to carry out a selection between two or more options. This includes many things from psychological responses and reaction time to eye tracking.

The other area of research for Cognitive Science is ingrained in brain imaging. This refers to conducting an analysis of an activity within the brain when it is performing a couple of cognitive tasks. It can eventually assist us in linking the behavior and the functioning of the brain and to understand more on the processing of information.

The neuroscience part of Cognitive Science utilizes a number of imaging techniques. Some of them include optical imaging, electroencephalography, functional magnetic resonance imaging and single photo emission computed tomography. Each one of this explains more about the information we have regarding the brain and what it is able to process.

Computational modeling is the other research method that Cognitive Science employs. This requires that the problem be represented in a logical and mathematical manner. Computer models are fully used so as to help in the experiment and stimulate the validity of the varying attributes of intelligence.
The bottom line of all these is to assist us in comprehending the functional organization of a particular cognitive aspect. There are two main approaches to cognitive modeling. The first one is that which follows the associative and neutral properties of the brain. The second one is the abstract mental function of the intelligent mind.

It is a common fact that the human brain is complicated and profound. Every single portion of the brain constitutes of something that plays a bigger role in influencing our lives. Cognitive Science encompasses what we already understand regarding the brain and what we are still striving to know about it. With the current research methods on cognition, an avalanche of information is ever evolving and helping us improve the train programs of our brain and delaying memory loss.

For example, new research in Cognitive Science shows that child abuse can have a permanent effect on the sea-horse shaped part of the brain. Researchers from Harvard University have shown that this might eventually result to adult drug abuse and depression though there are possible treatments.

No comments:

Post a Comment