Cognitive Neural Science - Eric Kandel

The study of normal mental activity was a subfield of philosophy until the end of the XIX century. Cognitive neural science is an integrative approach to the study of mental activity that emerged from five major technical and conceptual developments after 1960-70:

1. Study of the activity of single cells in primates.
2. Cellular studies in monkeys correlating patterns of firing of individual cells in specific brain regions to higher cognitive processes.
3. Behavioral analysis of patients with lesions of the brain that interface with mental functioning.
4. New radiological imaging techniques, PET (Positron emission tomography) and RMI (Magnetic Ressonance).
5. Computers have made it possible to model the activity of large populations of neurons and to begin to test ideas of the role of specific components of the brain in particular behaviors.