neuroscience

Cognitive neuroscience has developed many approaches to the study of learning that might be useful to functionally oriented researchers, including those from a relational frame theory (RFT) perspective. We focus here on two examples. First, cognitive neuroscience often distinguishes between habit and goal-directed reinforcement learning, in which only the latter is sensitive to proximal changes in behavior-environment contingencies. This distinction is relevant to RFT’s original concerns about how rule-based processes can sometimes render an individual’s behavior maladaptive to changing circumstances.

Early childhood is marked by substantial development in the self-regulatory skills supporting school readiness and socioemotional competence. Evidence from developmental social cognitive neuroscience suggests that these skills develop as a function of changes in a dynamic interaction between more top-down (controlled) regulatory processes and more bottom-up (automatic) influences on behavior.

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

Little daily hassles can add up to big, big stress.



Whether you’re stuck in traffic, hauling your kids out the front door in the morning, dealing with a demanding boss, or worrying about money, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. Stress is a normal part of daily life; but over time, chronic stress can take its toll on both your mental and physical health, leading to everything from anxiety and depression to weight gain and disease. So how can you move past the little hassles that get in the way of fully enjoying life?