Illuminating the study of how the mind works

By PATRICIA DONOVAN
News Services Editor

New, real-time neuro-imaging technologies that allow us to watch the brain in action have revolutionized the field of brain science. They have opened up major areas of research in several fields, including anthropology, linguistics, philosophy, psychology and neurology. Together, these disciplines form the "inter-discipline" of cognitive science-the study of how the mind works-investigating the conceptual organization of the mind and its neural and computational properties.

New applications of neuroimaging in the cognitive sciences will be discussed April 2 when renowned cognitive psychologist Michael I. Posner presents the 1999 Distinguished Speaker Lecture sponsored by the Center for Cognitive Science.

Posner's talk, "Development of Attentional Networks for Regulating Thought, Feeling and Behavior," will take place at 3 p.m. in Room 225 of the Natural Sciences Building on the North Campus. It is free and open to the public.

Leonard Talmy, associate professor of linguistics and director of the center, calls Posner "a pioneer and leading authority in the use of neuroimaging as a credible, versatile tool with which to understand human cognition and solve clinical problems."

A professor of psychology in the Department of Psychiatry at Cornell Medical College, Posner directs the department's Sackler Institute, a center for research in child development.

The technologies to be discussed by Posner have produced remarkable investigative tools that take pictures of the brain as it works on specific tasks, rendering aspects of thought visible in real time. By allowing scientists to see the physical changes brought on by mental activity, these technologies, principally positron emission topography or PET, are helping to reveal the connections between different parts of the brain and specific functions of the mind.

This area of cognitive study is called "brain mapping" and Posner has pinpointed many of the physical mechanisms of the brain involved in perception, learning, memory, attention and other higher cognitive functions and emotional processes. This data is being used to investigate normal cognitive development and learning, and to develop important, new information related to recovery from brain injury and the treatment of various pathologies.

Research in this field using neuroimaging also has been undertaken by members of the UB Center for Cognitive Science, notably Jeri Jaeger, professor of linguistics, and Alan Lockwood, professor of neurology and director of the PET Center at the VA Medical Center. They recently published results of a study that used PET and language tasks to identify the specific site where complex cognitive tasks take place in the brains of healthy men and women. This study, too, has revolutionary implications for the fields of brain-trauma rehabilitation, linguistics and developmental psychology.

With neuroscientist Marcus Raichle, Posner co-authored "Images of the Mind," for which the pair received the 1996 William James Book Award. The book offers an historical tour of the devices scientists have used to "watch" the mind and explains how neurotechnological devices work and what they measure.

The Center for Cognitive Science presents weekly colloquia co-sponsored by the departments of Linguistics, Philosophy and Psychology, all in the College of Arts and Sciences; the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology in the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences; the English Language Institute, and the School of Information and Library Studies.

Posner's visit to Buffalo is part of the colloquia series, which will continue April 7 with a lecture by Chris Sinha of the Institute of Psychology at Aarhaus University, Denmark, followed by a talk April 14 by Carolyn Korsmeyer, UB professor of philosophy and a member of the cognitive science center. To receive email announcements about upcoming talks in the series, send a message to Dawn Phillips at or call 645-3794.