Imaging cognitive anatomy

One of the major challenges in imaging neuroscience is the integration of cognitive science with the empiricism of neurophysiology. The cognitive architectures and principles offered by cognitive science have been essential in shaping experimental design and image analysis strategies from the outset. Now some of the cognitive models and their assumptions (for example, cognitive subtraction) are being re-evaluated in the light of how the brain actually implements putative components and processes. In this review we will consider experimental designs that go beyond cognitive subtraction and also consider how functional imaging can be used to assess the context-sensitivity of cognitive processing (using conjunction analyses), and the integration of different processes (in terms of interactions, using factorial designs) and how both these themes can be developed in the context of parametric designs. These new approaches reflect an ongoing discourse between cognitive science and the emerging principles of functional anatomy.