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Public Understanding of Cognitive Neuroscience Research Findings: Trying to Peer Beyond Enchanted Glass
Author(s) -
Grotzer Tina A.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
mind, brain, and education
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.624
H-Index - 35
eISSN - 1751-228X
pISSN - 1751-2271
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-228x.2011.01118.x
Subject(s) - cognition , perception , appeal , psychology , cognitive science , cognitive neuroscience , social neuroscience , context (archaeology) , educational neuroscience , cognitive psychology , neuroscience , social cognition , political science , paleontology , education theory , law , biology , higher education
This article considers the appeal of cognitive neuroscience research to the general public within the context of the deep puzzles involved in using our minds to understand how our minds work. It offers a few promising examples of findings that illuminate the ways of the mind and reveal these workings to be counter‐intuitive with our subjective experience. However, this promise is tempered by the powerful role that perception, attention, and cognition play in how we reason about evidence. It argues that the interplay between what we believe about the nature of our minds and what the findings suggest constitutes a primary challenge in encouraging public understanding of cognitive neuroscience findings.