Michael Posner

Click here for Michael Posner's abstract for this dialogue.

Click here for the relevant paper "The Achievement of Brain Imaging: Past and Future,"

originally presented by Michael Posner as a commentary on a paper delivered at Attention and Performance XX, Summer 2002.

The file is in Microsoft Word. Right-click to download to disk if you don't want your computer to open Word now.

Click here for the Institute of Cognitive and Decision Sciences

and here for the Department of Psychology, University of Oregon

and here for the Center for the Cognitive Neuroscience of Attention

and here for the Sackler Institute.

Abstract for Northwestern Cognitive Science Dialogue: Prof. William Uttal has performed a service to the field by pointing out potential limitations to neuroimaging and asking whether it is merely a new phrenology. Pictures of the brain, however great their resolution, do not constitute a complete answer to the pressing issues of mind and behavior. However, the answer to Uttal's question about phrenology is clearly NO. While there has been strong empirical convergence on the issue of localization of function, neuroimaging has moved well beyond saying where processes are located to provide information on: (1) the activation of brain areas in real time (circuitry), (2) connections between neural areas, (3) changes in brain activity with experience (plasticity), and (4) normal and abnormal development in relation to genetics and experience. These findings do have important implications for treatment of pathology, for education and for other important areas of application. Like other sciences, neuroimaging has spawned impressive new technologies and attracted people from diverse fields into a common agenda. The ability to image the living human brain during cognitive and emotional tasks has supported a broad interdisciplinary approach capable of significant contributions to our understanding of mind and behavior.