The functional-cognitive framework as a tool for accelerating progress in cognitive neuroscience: On the benefits of bridging rather than reducing levels of analyses

The subject matter of neuroscience research is complex, and synthesizing the wealth of data from this

research to better understand mental processes is challenging. A useful strategy, therefore, may be to

explicitly distinguish between the causal effects of the environment on behaviour (i.e., functional

analyses) and the mental processes that mediate these effects (i.e., cognitive analyses). In this article

we describe how the Functional-Cognitive (F-C) framework can accelerate cognitive neuroscience

and also advance a functional treatment of brain activity. We first highlight that cognitive neuroscience

can particularly benefit from the F-C approach by providing an alternative to the problematic practice

of reducing cognitive constructs to behavioural and/or neural proxies. Next, we outline how functional

(behaviour-environment) relations can serve as a bridge between the cognitive and neural processes

by restoring mental constructs to their original role as heuristic tools. Finally, we give some examples

of how both cognitive neuroscience and traditional functional approaches can mutually benefit from

the F-C framework.