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Cognitive Ontology and Region- versus Network-Oriented Analyses

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Colin Klein
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Abstract

The interpretation of functional imaging experiments is complicated by the pluripotency of brain regions. As there is a many-to-one mapping between cognitive functions and their neural substrates, region-based analyses of imaging data provide only weak support for cognitive theories. Price and Friston argue that we need a ‘cognitive ontology’ that abstractly categorizes the function of regions. I argue that abstract characterizations are unlikely to be cognitively interesting. I argue instead that we should attribute functions to regions in a context-sensitive manner. I review recent meta-analyses that approach fMRI data in this light and argue that they have revisionary potential.

Type
Psychology and Neuroscience
Information
Philosophy of Science , Volume 79 , Issue 5 , December 2012 , pp. 952 - 960
Copyright
Copyright © The Philosophy of Science Association

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