Cognitive science studies the mind and intelligence, while cognitive neuroscience studies the biological basis of cognition. Advances in brain imaging have led to a better understanding of cognitive processes and their effects on behavior. Insights gained from studying the brain and cognitive sciences have applications in education, artificial intelligence, and psychoanalysis.
The brain and cognitive science are interconnected as cognitive science is the interdisciplinary study of mind and intelligence and the brain is the physical and biological basis of mind and intelligence. How the brain works has always been a mystery, but advances in technology such as imaging have led to a broader understanding of what happens in the brain during processes such as thinking, memory and processing sensory input. These processes lead to cognitive changes. The relationship between the brain and cognitive science is biological, psychological and physiological.
Cognitive science is a relatively new discipline that consists of disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, anthropology, neuroscience, sociology, and education. It is the scientific study of what cognition is, how information is processed, and the effects that the process has on behavior. Thanks to sophisticated brain imaging, it is now possible to analyze the activity within the brain as it performs various cognitive tasks. Behavior may be linked to physiological brain function which in turn leads to a better understanding of how information is processed.
The discipline that most deals with the brain and cognitive sciences is that of cognitive neuroscience. It is the scientific study of the biological basis of cognition, especially the neural pathways of mental processing. Basically, the goal of cognitive neuroscience is to describe how the brain creates the mind, and the goal of cognitive science is to study the mind. It is no coincidence that cognitive science, cognitive neuroscience and the most sophisticated brain imaging techniques were born almost simultaneously. A field of study can only be classified as a science when it can be measured and it is only through advances in technology that this has become possible.
Many of the principles learned from studying the brain and cognitive sciences are applied to areas such as education, artificial intelligence, and psychoanalysis. Many of the mechanisms of the brain are still unknown, but what has become known has changed much of what was thought to be true. For example, it was once considered a fact that the brain stops developing at some point in the mid-teens, but it is now known that the brain continues to develop well into your 20s. It has also been found that information intake and processing is determined by a combination of biological, cognitive and psychosocial factors rather than just one factor to the exclusion of the others. Important insights have been gained in areas as diverse as learning disorders such as dyslexia, the language acquisition process, behavioral finance, cognitive biases and risk perception.
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