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

在过去的十年里，神经科学取得了爆炸性的进步，但对人类大脑及其在人类认知中的作用的了解却没有增加。由于对人类神经系统的实验研究存在明显的伦理限制，认知神经科学的进展受到了阻碍。然而，最近的几项技术发展使得以新颖而有力的方式可视化大脑活动的各个方面成为可能。特别重要的是，这些技术可以用在清醒的人身上，几乎没有风险，也不会给受试者带来不便。有两类技术特别值得注意，放射疗法和电磁疗法。放射学方法使得在完整的大脑中可视化代谢过程成为可能。正电子发射断层扫描（PET）和磁共振成像（MRI）是这些方法中的典型，因为它们允许研究人员以非常精细的空间分辨率确定在明确指定的认知活动过程中调用的大脑活动位置。电磁方法监测大脑的电或磁活动。这些可以以显著的时间分辨率进行监测，但空间分辨率相当差。这一行动将为1990年1月的第一个星期在加利福尼亚卡梅尔举行的会议提供NSF的资金份额，会议将讨论整合这些新技术的方法和方法，以增强它们作为认知神经科学工具的能力。由于技术和理论的原因，每种技术都发展了自己的实验范例。在一种方法中记录的最佳条件常常与其他方法对实验的要求相冲突。集成的一个必要条件是对在每个领域中形成工作的范例约束进行彻底的相互理解。正是出于这个原因，会议将汇集代表四种主要技术的研究人员。会议将分为三个部分：第一天半，几位著名的研究者将提供教程。然后，参与者将在四个较小的小组中会面，每个小组都将接受非常详细的收费。将有一天半的时间用于小组讨论。然后，在最后两天，每个小组将向聚集的小组报告其对收费的反应。

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.