ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the main epistemological issues in contemporary neuroscience: validation and integration of experimental knowledge. Cognitive neuroscience traditionally has relied on animal models and computer simulations. The invention of functional magnetic resonance imaging in the 1990s, together with similar imaging technologies such as positron emission tomography, revolutionized cognitive neuroscience. Empirical science generates knowledge from experience through observation and experimentation. The problem about certainty in science is further complicated in cases for which we do not have means to directly observe the objects of study. The study of the mind is the poster child for this problem. Since the invention of the computer in the mid-20th century, computer scientists have worked on developing artificial intelligence (AI). One goal of AI is to serve as a model of human cognition. The idea is that if our theories about how the mind works are correct, we will be able to build machines that possess human-like intelligence.
