# Cognitive Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience/Present and Future of Research


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about the future.\"* Robert Storm Petersen

## Introduction / Until now

Developing from the information processing approach, present cognitive
psychology differs from classical psychological approaches in the
methods used as well as in the interdisciplinary connections to other
sciences. Apart from rejecting introspection as a valid method to
analyse mental phenomena, cognitive psychology introduces further,
mainly computer-based, techniques which have not been in the range of
classical psychology by now.

By using brain-imaging-techniques like fMRI, cognitive psychology is
able to analyse the relation between the physiology of the brain and
mental processes. In the future, cognitive psychology will likely focus
on computer-based methods even more. Thus, the field will profit from
improvements in the area of IT. For example, contemporary fMRI scans are
plagued by many possible sources of error, which should be solved in the
future, thereby improving the power and precision of the technique. In
addition, computational approaches can be combined with classical
behavioural approaches, where one infers a participant\'s mental states
from exhibited behaviour.

Cognitive psychology, however, does not only rely on methods developed
by other branches of science. It also collaborates with closely related
fields, including artificial intelligence, neuroscience, linguistics and
the philosophy of mind. The advantage of this multidisciplinary approach
is clear: different perspectives on the topic make it possible to test
hypotheses using different techniques and to eventually develop new
conceptual frameworks for thinking about the mind. Often, modern studies
of cognitive psychology criticise classical information processing
approaches, which opens the door for other approaches to acquire
additional importance. For example, the classical approach has been
modified to a parallel information processing approach, which is thought
to be closer to the actual functioning of the brain.

## Today\'s approaches

### The momentary usage of brain imaging

How are the known brain imaging methods used? What kind of information
can be derived using this methods?

#### fMRI

fMRI is an non-invasive imaging method that pictures active structures
of the brain in a high spatial resolution. For that the participant has
to lie in a tube and his brain is pictured. While doing a task active
structures in the brain of the participant can be recognised on the
recordings.

**How?**\
If parts of the brain are active, the metabolism is also stimulated. The
blood, that has an important function in the metabolic transport is
flowing to the active nerve cells. The haemoglobin in the red blood
cells carries oxygen (oxyhaemogliobin) when flowing to the part that is
active and that needs oxygen, to consume and work. With consumption the
haemoglobin „delivers" the oxygen (desoxyhaemoglobin). This leads to
local changes in the relative concentration of oxyhemoglobin and
desoxyhemoglobin and changes in local blood volume and blood flow. While
haemoglobin is oxygenated it is diamagnetic (meaning the material tends
to leave the magnetic field), but paramagnetic (material tends to
migrate into the magnetic field) while desoxygenated. The magnetic
resonance signal of blood is therefore slightly different depending on
the level of oxygenation.

By being able to detect the magnetic properties mentioned above, the
fMRI-scanner is able to determine alterations in blood flow and blood
volume, and construct a picture. This picture shows the brain and its
activated parts. While the participant is doing a task the researcher
can derive, which brain regions are involved. This is an indirect
measure, as the metabolism is measured and not the neuronal activity
itself. Furthermore this imaging method has good spatial
resolution(where the activity occurs) but low temporal resolution (when
the activity occurs), as measurements occur after the neuronal activity.

#### EEG

The Electroencephalogram (EEG) is another non-invasive brain imaging
method. Electronic signals from the human brain are recorded while the
participant is doing a task. The electronic activity of the neuronal
cells, that is adding can be measured.

The electronic activity is measured by attaching electrodes to the skin
of the head. In most cases the electrodes are installed on a cap, that
the participant wears. It is very time-consuming to install the cap
correctly on the head of the participant, but it is very important for
the outcome, that everything is in the right place. To assure the adding
of the signals the electrodes have to be installed geometric and in a
parallel configuration. This technique is applied to measure the
event-related potential (ERP), potential changes. They are correlated
temporal to an emotional, sensoric, cognitive or motoric event. In the
experiment a certain event has to be repeated again and again. The type
ERP then can be extracted and calculated. This method is not only
time-consumptive, also a lot of disrupting factors complicate the
measuring. Moreover this method has a very high temporal resolution, but
a very low spatial resolution. It is hardly possible to measure activity
in deeper brain regions or to detect the source of the activity
interpreting only the recordings.

### Interdisciplinary Approaches

#### Cognitive Science

Cognitive science is multidisciplinary science. It comprises areas of
cognitive psychology, linguistics, neuroscience, artificial
intelligence, cognitive anthropology, computer science and philosophy.
Cognitive science concentrates to study the intelligent behaviour of
humans, which includes perception, learning, memory, thought and
language. Research in cognitive sciences are based on naturalistic
research methods such as cognitive neuropsychology, introspection,
psychological experimentation, mathematical modelling and philosophical
argumentation.

In the beginning of the cognitive sciences the most common method was
introspection. It meant that the test subject evaluated his or her own
cognitive thinking. In these experiments the researchers were using
experienced subjects because they had to analyse and report their own
cognitive thinking. Problems can occur when the results are interpreted
and the subject has different reports from the same action. Obviously a
clear separation is needed between the matters that can be studied by
introspection and the ones that are not adequate for this method.

Computational modelling in cognitive science means that the mind is seen
as a machine. This approach seeks to express theoretical ideas through
computational modelling that generate behaviour similar to humans.
Mathematical modelling is based on flow charts. The model\'s quality is
very important to ensure the equivalence of the input and results.

Nowadays the researchers in cognitive sciences use often theoretical and
computational models. \"This does not exclude their primary method of
experimentation with human participants. In cognitive sciences it is
also important to bring the theories and the experimenting together.
Because it comprises so many fields of science it is important to bring
together the most appropriate methods from all these fields. The
psychological experiments should be interpreted through a theory that
expresses mental representations and procedures. The most productive and
revealing way to perform research in cognitive sciences is to combine
different approaches and methods together. This ensures overall picture
from the research area and it comprises the viewpoints of all the
different fields.\" (Thagard, Cognitive Science) Nevertheless Cognitive
Science has not yet managed to succeed in bringing the different areas
together. Nowadays it is criticised for not establishing a science on
its own. Rather few scientist really address themselves as cognitive
scientists. Furthermore the basic metaphor of the brain functioning like
a computer is challenged as well as the distinctions between their
models and nature (cf. Eysenck & Keane, Cognitive Psychology, pp.
519-520). This of course brings up a lot of work for the future.
Cognitive Science has to work on better models that explain natural
processes and that are reliably able to make predictions. Furthermore
these models have to combine multiple mental phenomena. In addition to
that a general \"methodology for relating a computational model\'s
behaviour to human behaviour\" has to be worked out. Hereby the strength
of such models can be increased. Apart from that Cognitive Science needs
to establish an identity with prominent researchers that avow themselves
to Cognitive Science. And finally its biggest goal, the creation of a
general unifying theory of human cognition (see Theory Part), has to be
reached (cf. ibid, p. 520).

##### Experimental Cognitive Psychology

Psychological experimentation studies mental functions. This is done
with indirect methods meaning reasoning. These studies are performed to
find causal relations and the factors influencing behaviour. The
researcher observes visible actions and makes conclusions based on these
observations. Variables are changed one at a time and the effect of this
change is being observed. The benefits of experimental researching are
that the manipulated factors can be altered in nearly any way the
researcher wants. From this point it is finally possible to find causal
relations.

In being the classical approach within the field of cognitive
psychology, experimental studies have been the basis for the development
of numerous modern approaches within contemporary Cognitive Psychology.
Its empirical methods have been developed and verified over time and the
gained results were a foundation for many enhancements contributed to
the field of psychology.

Taking into consideration the established character of experimental
cognitive psychology, one might think that methodological changes are
rather negligible. But recent years came up with a discussion concerning
the question, whether the results of experimental CP remain valid in the
"real world" at all. A major objection is that the artificial
environment in an experiment might cause that certain facts and
coherences are unintentionally ignored, which is due to the fact that
for reasons of clarity numerous factors are suppressed (cf. Eysenck &
Keane, Cognitive Psychology, pp. 514--515). A possible example for this
is the research concerning attention. Since the attention of the
participant is mainly governed by the experimenter's instructions, its
focus is basically determined. Therefore \"relatively little is known of
the factors that normally influence the focus of attention\" (ibid, p.
514). Furthermore it turns out to be problematic that mental phenomena
are often examined in isolation. While trying to make the experimental
setup as concise as possible (in order to get clearly interpretable
results) one decouples the aspect at issue from adjacent and interacting
mental processes. This leads to the problem that the results turn out to
be valid in the idealised experimental setting only but not in "real
life". Here multiple mental phenomena interact with each other and
numerous outer stimuli influence the behaviour of mental processes. The
validity gained by such studies could only be characterised as an
internal validity (which means that the results are valid in the special
circumstances created by the experimenter) but not as an external
validity (which means that the results stay valid in changed and more
realistic circumstances) (cf. ibid, p. 514). These objections lead to
experiments which have been developed to refer closer to \"real life\".
According to these experiments \"real-world\" phenomena like
\'absent-mindedness\', \'everyday memory\' or \'reading\' gain
importance. Nevertheless the discussion remains whether such experiments
really deliver new information about mental processes. And whether these
\'everyday phenomenon studies\' really become broadly accepted greatly
depends on the results current experiments will deliver.

Another issue concerning experimental setups in cognitive psychology is
the way individual differences are handled. In general the results from
an experiment are generated by an analysis of variance. This causes that
results which are due to individual differences are averaged out and not
taken into further consideration. Such a procedure seems to be highly
questionable, especially if put into the context of an investigation of
Bowers in 1973, which showed that over 30% of the variance in such
studies are due to individual differences or their interaction with the
current situation (cf. ibid, p. 515). Based on such facts one challenge
for future experimental cognitive psychology is the analysis of
individual differences and finding way to include knowledge about such
differences in general studies.

##### Cognitive Neuroscience

Another approach towards a better understanding of human cognition is
cognitive neuroscience. Cognitive neuroscience lies at the interface
between traditional cognitive psychology and the brain sciences. It is a
science whose approach is characterised by attempts to derive cognitive
level theories from various types of information, such as computational
properties of neural circuits, patterns of behavioural damage as a
result of brain injury or measurements of brain activity during the
execution of cognitive tasks (cf. www.psy.cmu.edu). Cognitive
neuroscience helps to understand how the human brain supports thought,
perception, affection, action, social process and other aspects of
cognition and behaviour, including how such processes develop and change
in the brain over time (cf. www.nsf.gov).

Cognitive neuroscience has emerged in the last decade as an intensely
active and influential discipline, forged from interactions among the
cognitive sciences, neurology, neuroimaging, physiology, neuroscience,
psychiatry, and other fields. New methods for non-invasive functional
neuroimaging of subjects performing psychological tasks have been of
particular importance for this discipline. Non-invasive functional
neuroimaging includes: positron emission tomography (PET), functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), magnetoencephalography (MEG), optical
imaging (near infra-red spectroscopy or NIRS), anatomical MRI, and
diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) The findings of cognitive neuroscience
are directed towards enabling a basic scientific understanding of a
broad range of issues involving the brain, cognition and behaviour. (cf.
www.nsf.gov).

Cognitive neuroscience becomes a very important approach to understand
human cognition, since results can clarify functional brain
organisation, such as the operations performed by a particular brain
area and the system of distributed, discrete neural areas supporting a
specific cognitive representation. These findings can reveal the effect
on brain organization of individual differences (including even genetic
variation) (cf. www.psy.cmu.edu, www.nsf.gov). Another importance of
cognitive neuroscience is that cognitive neuroscience provides some ways
that allow us to \"obtain detailed information about the brain
structures involved in different kinds of cognitive processing\"
(Eysenck & Keane, Cognitive Psychology, p. 521). Techniques such as MRI
and CAT scans have proved of particular value when used on patients to
discover which brain areas are damaged. Before non-invasive methods of
cognitive neuroscience were developed localisation of \"brain damage
could only be established by post mortem examination\" (ibid). Knowing
which brain areas are related to which cognitive process would surely
lead to obtain a clearer view of brain region, hence, in the end would
help for a better understanding of human cognition processes. Another
strength of cognitive neuroscience is that it serves as a tool to
demonstrate the reality of theoretical distinctions. For example, it has
been argued by many theorists that implicit memory can be divided into
perceptual and conceptual implicit memory; support for that view has
come from PET studies, which show that perceptual and conceptual priming
tasks affected different areas of the brain (cf. ibid, pp. 521-522).
However, cognitive neuroscience is not that perfect to be able to stand
alone and answer all questions dealing with human cognition. Cognitive
neuroscience has some limitations, dealing with data collecting and data
validity. In most neuroimaging studies, data is collected from several
individuals and then averaged. Some concern has arose about such
averaging because of the existence of significant individual
differences. Though the problem was answered by Raichle (1998), who
stated that the differ in individual brain should be appreciated,
however general organising principles emerge that transcend these
differences, a broadly accepted solution to the problem has yet to be
found (cf. ibid, p. 522).

##### Cognitive Neuropsychology

Cognitive Neuropsychology maps the connection between brain functions
and cognitive behaviour. Patients with brain damages have been the most
important source of research in neuropsychology. Neuropsychology also
examines dissociation ("forgetting"), double dissociation and
associations (connection between two things formed by cognition).
Neuropsychology uses technological research methods to create images of
the brain functioning. There are many differences in techniques to scan
the brain. The most common ones are EEG (Electroencephalography), MRI
and fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and PET (Positron
Emission Tomography).

Cognitive Neuropsychology became very popular since it delivers good
evidence. Theories developed for normal individuals can be verified by
patients with brain damages. Apart from that new theories could have
been established because of the results of neuropsychological
experiments. Nevertheless certain limitations to the approach as it is
today cannot be let out of consideration. First of all the fact that
people having the same mental disability often do not have the same
lesion needs to be pointed out (cf. ibid, pp.516-517). In such cases the
researchers have to be careful with their interpretation. In general it
could only be concluded that all the areas that the patients have
injured could play a role in the mental phenomenon. But not which part
really is decisive. Based on that future experiments in this area tend
to make experiments with a rather small number of people with pretty
similar lesion respectively compare the results from groups with similar
syndromes and different lesions. In addition to that the situation often
turns out to be vice versa. Some patients do have pretty similar lesions
but show rather different behaviour (cf. ibid, p.517). One probable
reason therefore is that the patients differ in their age and lifestyle
(cf. Banich, Neuropsychology, p.55). With better technologies in the
future one will be better able to distinguish the cases in which really
the various personalities make the difference or in which cases the
lesions are not entirely equal. In addition to that the individual brain
structures which may cause the different reactions to the lesions will
become a focus of research. Another problem for Cognitive
Neuropsychology is that their patients are rare. The patients which are
interesting for such research have lesions of an accident or suffered
during war. But in addition there are differences in the manner of the
lesion. Often multiple brain regions are damaged which makes it very
hard to determine which of them is responsible for the examined
phenomenon. The dependency on chance whether there are available
patients will remain in future. Thereby predictions concerning this
aspect of the research are not very reliable. Apart from that it is not
possible yet to localise some mental processes in the brain. Creative
thought or organisational planning are examples (cf. Eysenck & Keane,
Cognitive Psychology, p.517). A possible outcome of the research is that
those activities rely on parallel processing. This would support the
idea of the modification of the information processing theory that will
be discussed later on. But if it shows up that a lot of mental processes
depend on such parallel processing it would turn out to be a big
drawback for Cognitive Psychology since its core is the modularization
of the brain and the according phenomena. In this context the risk of
overestimation and underestimation has to be mentioned. The latter
occurs because Cognitive Psychology often only identifies the most
important brain region for the mental task. Other regions that are
related thereto could be ignored. This could turn out to be fundamental
if really parallel processing is crucial to many mental activities.
Overestimation occurs when fibers that only pass the damaged brain
region are lesioned, too. The researcher concludes that the respective
brain region plays an important role in the phenomenon he analyses even
though only the deliverance of the information passed that region (cf.
ibid). Modern technologies and experiments here have to be developed in
order to provide valid and precise results.

#### Unifying Theories

A unified theory of cognitive science serves the purpose to bring
together all the vantage points one can take toward the brain/mind. If a
theory could be formed which incorporates all the discoveries of the
disciplines mentioned above a full understanding would be tangible.

##### ACT-R

ACT-R is a Cognitive Architecture, an acronym for Adaptive Control of
Thought--Rational. It provides tools which enable us to model the human
cognition. It consists mainly of five components: Perceptual-motor
modules, declarative memory, procedural memory, chunks and buffers. The
declarative memory stores facts in "knowledge-units", the chunks. These
are transmitted through the modules respective buffers, which contain
one chunk at a time. The procedural memory is the only one without an
own buffer, but is able to access the contents of the other buffers. For
example those of the perceptual-motor modules, which are the interface
with the (simulated) outer world. Production is accomplished by
predefined rules, written is LISP. The main character behind it is John
R. Anderson who tributes the inspiration to Allan Newell.

##### SOAR

SOAR is another Cognitive Architecture, an acronym for State, Operator
And Result. It enables one to model complex human capabilities. Its goal
is to create an agent with human-like behaviour. The working principles
are the following: Problem-solving is a search in a problem-space.
Permanent Knowledge is represented by production rules in the production
memory. Temporary Knowledge is represented by objects in the working
memory. New Goals are created only if a dead end is reached. The
learning mechanism is Chunking. Chunking: If SOAR encounters an impasse
and is unable to resolve it with the usual technique, it uses "weaker"
strategies to circumvent the dead end. In case one of these attempts
leads to success, the respective route is saved as a new rule, a chunk,
preventing the impasse to occur again. SOAR was created by John Laird,
Allen Newell and Paul Rosenbloom.

#### Neural Networks

There are two types of neural networks: biological and artificial.

A biological NN consists of neurons which are physically or functionally
connected with each other. Since each neuron can connect to multiple
other neurons the number of possible connections is exponentially high.
The connections between neurons are called synapses. Signalling along
these synapses happens via electrical signalling or chemical signalling,
which induces electrical signals. The chemical signalling works by
various neurotransmitters.

Artificial NN are divided by their goals. One is that of artificial
intelligence and the other cognitive modelling. Cognitive modelling NN
try to simulate biological NN in order to gain better understanding of
them, for example the brain. Until now the complexity of the brain and
similar structures has prevented a complete model from being devised, so
the cognitive modelling focuses on smaller parts like specific brain
regions. NNs in artificial intelligence are used to solve distinct
problems. But though their goals differ the methods applied are very
similar. An artificial NN consist of artificial neurons (nodes) which
are connected by mathematical functions. These functions can be of other
functions which in turn can be of yet other functions and so on. The
actual work is done by following the connections according to their
weights. Weights are properties of the connections defining the
probability of the specific route to be taken by the program and can be
changed by it, thus optimizing the main function. Hereby it is possible
to solve problems for which it is impossible to write a function "by
hand".

## Future Research

#### Brain imaging/activity measuring

As described in section 2.1. and 2.2. there are disadvantages of the
brain imaging methods. fMRI has a low temporal resolution, but EEG a low
spatial resolution. An interdisciplinary attempt is to combine both
methods, to reach both a high spatial and temporal resolution. This
technique (simultaneous EEG-measuring in the fMR) is used for instance
in studying children with extratemporal epilepsy. It is important to
assign the temporal progress to a region in which the epileptic seizure
has its roots. In December 2006 a conference in Munich discussed another
idea of this mixture of methods: the study of Alzheimer\'s disease. It
could be possible to recognise this disease very early. This could lead
to new therapies to reduce the speed and the amount of cell-dead. In
December of 2006 a conference in Munich discussed this eventuality.
Brain imaging methods are not only useful in medical approaches. Other
disciplines could benefit from the brain imaging methods and derive new
conclusions. For instance for social psychologist the brain imaging
methods are interesting. Experiments with psychopathic personalities are
only one possibility to explore the behaviour of humans. For literature
scientists there could be a possibility to study stylistic devices and
their effect of humans while reading a poem. Another attempt in future
research is to synchronise the direction of sight and the stimuli, that
was trigger for the change of direction. This complex project needs data
from eye-tracking experiments and data from fMRI-studies.

#### Unifying theories more unifying.

Since the mind is a single system it should be possible to explain it as
such without having to take different perspectives for every approach
(neurological,psychological,computational). Having such a theory would
enable us to understand our brain far more thorough than now, and might
eventually lead an everyday application. But until now there is no
working Unifying Theory of Cognition, which fulfils the requirements
stated by Allen Newell in his book Unified Theories of Cognition.
Accordingly a UTC has to explain: How intelligent organisms respond
flexibly to the environment. How they exhibit goal-directed behaviour
and choose goals rationally (and in response to interrupts: see previous
point). How they use symbols. How they learn from experience. Even
Newells own implementation SOAR does not reach these goals.

### Promising experiments

Here I collected the abstracts of a few recent findings, feel free to
modify or add to them.

\>\>Unintentional language switch \[\] Kho, K.H., Duffau, H., Gatignol,
P., Leijten, F.S.S., Ramsey, N.F., van Rijen, P.C. & Rutten, G-J.M.
(2007) Utrecht Abstract
1

We present two bilingual patients without language disorders in whom
involuntary language switching was induced. The first patient switched
from Dutch to English during a left-sided amobarbital Wada-test.
Functional magnetic resonance imaging yielded a predominantly left-sided
language distribution similar for both languages. The second patient
switched from French to Chinese during intraoperative electrocortical
stimulation of the left inferior frontal gyrus. We conclude that the
observed language switching in both cases was not likely the result of a
selective inhibition of one language, but the result of a temporary
disruption of brain areas that are involved in language switching. These
data complement the few lesion studies on (involuntary or unintentional)
language switching, and add to the functional neuroimaging studies of
switching, monitoring, and controlling the language in use.

\>\>Bilateral eye movement -\> memory Parker, A. & Dagnall, N. (2007)
Manchester Metropolitan University, One hundred and two participants
listened to 150 words, organised into ten themes (e.g. types of
vehicle), read by a male voice. Next, 34 of these participants moved
their eyes left and right in time with a horizontal target for thirty
seconds (saccadic eye movements); 34 participants moved their eyes up
and down in time with a vertical target; the remaining participants
stared straight ahead, focussed on a stationary target. After the eye
movements, all the participants listened to a mixture of words: 40
they\'d heard before, 40 completely unrelated new words, and 10 words
that were new but which matched one of the original themes. In each case
the participants had to say which words they\'d heard before, and which
were new. The participants who\'d performed sideways eye movements
performed better in all respects than the others: they correctly
recognised more of the old words as old, and more of the new words as
new. Crucially, they were fooled less often by the new words whose
meaning matched one of the original themes - that is they correctly
recognised more of them as new. This is important because mistakenly
identifying one of these \'lures\' as an old word is taken as a
laboratory measure of false memory. The performance of the participants
who moved their eyes vertically, or who stared ahead, did not differ
from each other. Episodic memory improvement induced by bilateral eye
movements is hypothesized to reflect enhanced interhemispheric
interaction, which is associated with superior episodic memory (S. D.
Christman & R. E. Propper. 2001). Implications for neuropsychological
mechanisms underlying eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (F.
Shapiro, 1989, 2001), a therapeutic technique for posttraumatic stress
disorder, are discussed

\>\>is the job satisfaction--job performance relationship spurious? A
meta-analytic examination

Nathan A. Bowling(Department of Psychology, Wright State University)
Abstract
2

The job satisfaction--job performance relationship has attracted much
attention throughout the history of industrial and organizational
psychology. Many researchers and most lay people believe that a causal
relationship exists between satisfaction and performance. In the current
study, however, analyses using meta-analytic data suggested that the
satisfaction--performance relationship is largely spurious. More
specifically, the satisfaction--performance relationship was partially
eliminated after controlling for either general personality traits
(e.g., Five Factor Model traits and core self-evaluations) or for work
locus of control and was almost completely eliminated after controlling
for organization-based self-esteem. The practical and theoretical
implications of these findings are discussed.

\>\>Mirror-touch synesthesia is linked with empathy

Michael J Banissy & Jamie Ward (Department of Psychology, University
College London)

Abstract 3
Watching another person being touched activates a similar neural circuit
to actual touch and, for some people with \'mirror-touch\' synesthesia,
can produce a felt tactile sensation on their own body. In this study,
we provide evidence for the existence of this type of synesthesia and
show that it correlates with heightened empathic ability. This is
consistent with the notion that we empathize with others through a
process of simulation.

### Discussion points

Where are the limitations of research? Can we rely on our intuitive idea
of our mind? What impact could a complete understanding of the brain
have on everyday life?

#### Brain activity as a false friend

In several experiments the outcome is not unambiguous. This hinders a
direct derivation from the data. In experiments with psychopathic
personalities researchers had to weaken their thesis, that persons with
missing activity in the frontal lobe are predetermined for being violent
psychopathic people, that are unethical murderers. Missing activity in
the frontal lobe leads to a disregulation of threshold for emotional,
impulsive or violent actions. But this also advantages for example fire
fighters or policemen, who have to withstand strong pressures and who
need a higher threshold. So missing activity is not a sufficient
criterion for psychopathic personalities.

## Conclusion

Today\'s work in the field of Cognitive Psychology gives several hints
how future work in this area may look like. In practical applications
improvements will probably mainly be driven by the limitations one faces
today. Here in particular the newer subfields of Cognitive Psychology
will develop quickly. How such changes look like heavily depends on the
character of future developments in technology. Especially improvements
in Cognitive Neuropsychology and Cognitive Neuroscience depend on the
advancements of the imaging techniques. In addition to that the
theoretical framework of the field will be influenced by such
developments. The parallel processing theory may still be modified
according to new insights in computer science. Thereby or eventually by
the acceptance of one of the already existing overarching theories the
theoretical basis for the current research could be reunified. But if it
takes another 30 years to fulfil Newell\'s dream of such a theory or if
it will happen rather quick is still open. As a rather young science
Cognitive Psychology still is subject to elementary changes. All its
practical and theoretical domains are steadily modified. Whether the
trends mentioned in this chapter are just dead ends or will cause a
revolution of the field could only be predicted which definitely is
hard.

## References

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Anderson, John R., Lebiere, Christian, The Atomic Components of Thought,
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998\
Banich, Marie T., Neuropsycology - The Neural Bases of Mental Function,
Hougthon Mifflin Company, 1997\
E. Br. Goldstein, Cognitive Psychology, Wadsworth, 2004\
Lyon, G.Reid, Rumsey, Judith M.: Neuroimaging. A Window to Neurological
Foundations of Learning and Behaviour in Children. Baltimore. 1996.\
M. W. Eysenck, M. T. Keane, Cognitive Psychology - A Student\'s
Handbook, Psychology Press Ltd, 2000\
Thagard, Paul, Cognitive Science in Edward N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2004\

## Links

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