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Updated: Oct 10, 2026

Perspectives on Neuroscience
Published on: July 31, 2007
Cognitive neuroscience: origins and promise
1Department of Psychiatry, Sackler Institute, Weill Medical Center, Cornell University, New York, New York, USA. mip2003@med.cornell.edu
Abstract:
Both Freud and Wundt had hoped to base psychology on an understanding of the neural basis of mental events. Their efforts were unsuccessful because the structure and function of the human brain was not available for empirical study at the physiological level. Over the last part of this century, there has been amazing growth and vitality in the field of human brain function. In this paper, we trace critical developments in the fields of cognitive psychology, neuropsychology, and brain imaging related to the development of cognitive neuroscience. Cognitive Neuroscience has established that the decomposition of mental events can be united with an understanding of the mental and emotional computations carried out by the human brain. Cognitive neuroscience has the capability of influencing psychology in diverse areas from how children develop to how adults age; from how humans learn to how we imagine; from volitional control to psychopathologies.
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