Model systems of thought: A neuroscience perspective on cognitive frameworks

One of the core issues in psychology and neuroscience research is that the nervous systems and behavior of human beings are complex, yet laboratory experiments must be kept relatively simple in order to be well-controlled and thus provide definitive answers to research questions. In this chapter, I first discuss how “model organisms” are used to reduce the complexity of scientific investigations in low-level (cellular) neuroscience research; that is, even if researchers are ultimately interested in the human mind and brain, it is often easier to begin by asking reduced forms of their questions about animals with simpler nervous systems, and attempt to build towards an understanding of increasingly complex systems. A similar approach can be taken in psychological studies of human beings. It is impossible to simultaneously examine all the multitude of factors that drive human behavior, so instead we must study individual facets of human behavior in the laboratory, and hope to build towards a more unified understanding. Here, I argue for a “component process” approach to studying human thought, wherein we use extremely simple laboratory tasks in an effort to identify fundamental “building blocks” of cognition that may form the basis of more complex thoughts and behaviors.