Towards an Integration of the Non-Invasive Methodologies of Cognitive Neuroscience: The Eleventh Carmel Workshop, January 3-8, 1990; Carmel, California

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The explosive progress in the neurosciences over the last decade has not been matched by an increased understanding of the human brain and its role in human cognition. Progress in cognitive neuroscience has been slowed by obvious ethical constraints on the experimental study of the human nervous system. However, several recent technological developments have made it possible to visualize aspects of brain activity in novel and powerful ways. Of particular importance is the fact that these techniques can be used with awake behaving humans with virtually no risk and practically no inconvenience to the subject. Two classes of techniques are particularly noteworthy, the radiological and the electro-magnetic approaches. Radiological approaches make it possible to visualize metabolic processes in the intact brain. Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) are typical of these approaches, as they allow investigators to determine with very fine spatial resolution the site of brain activity which is invoked in the course of clearly specified cognitive activity. The electro- magnetic approaches monitor either the electrical or the magnetic activity of the brain. These can be monitored with remarkable temporal resolution, but with rather poor spatial resolution. This action will provide NSF's share of the funding for a conference to be held in Carmel, California, during the first week of January, 1990, to discuss ways and means to integrate these novel techniques in order to enhance their power as tools for cognitive neuroscience. For technological and theoretical reasons, each technique has developed its own experimental paradigms. The conditions which are optimal for recording within one approach often conflict with the demands which others impose on an experiment. A necessary condition for the integration is a thorough mutual understanding of the paradigmatic constraints that shape the work in each of the domains. It is for this reason that the conference will bring together investigators who represent each of four main techniques to be considered. The conference will be divided into three parts: For the first day and a half, several prominent investigators will provide tutorials. Then the participants will meet in four smaller panels, each of them receiving a very detailed charge. A day and a half will be devoted to the panel discussions. Then, in the last two days, each panel will report to the assembled group its response to the charge.