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Updated: Jun 15, 2026
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Investigating Causal Brain-behavioral Relationships and their Time Course
Published on: July 18, 2014
Functional neuroimaging can support causal claims about brain function
Matthew J Weber1, Sharon L Thompson-Schill
1Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA. mweb@psych.upenn.edu
Abstract:
Cognitive neuroscientists habitually deny that functional neuroimaging can furnish causal information about the relationship between brain events and behavior. However, imaging studies do provide causal information about those relationships-although not causal certainty. Although popular portrayals of functional neuroimaging tend to attribute too much inferential power to the technique, we should restrain ourselves from ascribing it too little.
