List of unsolved problems in neuroscience

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

The following is a list of notable unsolved problems in neuroscience. A problem is considered unsolved if no answer is known or if there is significant disagreement among experts about a proposed solution.

Consciousness

Sensation, perception and movement

  • Perception:
    • How does the brain transfer sensory information into coherent, private percepts?
    • What are the rules by which perception is organized?
    • What are the features/objects that constitute our perceptual experience of internal and external events?
    • How are the
      senses
      integrated?
    • What is the relationship between subjective experience and the physical world?

Learning and memory

  • Learning and memory:
    • Where do our memories get stored and how are they retrieved again?
    • How can learning be improved?
    • What is the difference between explicit and implicit memories?
    • What molecule is responsible for synaptic tagging?
  • Neuroplasticity: How plastic is the mature brain?
  • decisions
    :
    • How and where does the brain evaluate reward value and effort (cost) to modulate behavior?
    • How does previous experience alter perception and behavior?
    • What are the genetic and environmental contributions to brain function?

Language

  • Language:
    • How is it implemented neurally?
    • What is the basis of
      meaning
      ?
  • Language acquisition:
    • Controversy: infant language acquisition/first-language acquisition. How are infants able to learn language? One line of debate is between two points of view: that of psychological nativism, i.e., the language ability is somehow "hardwired" in the human brain, and usage based theories of language, according to which language emerges through to brain's interaction with environment and activated by general dispositions for social interaction and communication, abstract symbolic thought and pattern recognition and inference.
    • Is the human ability to use syntax based on innate mental structures or is syntactic speech the function of intelligence and interaction with other humans? The question is closely related to those of language emergence and acquisition.
    • Is there a language acquisition device: How localized is language in the brain? Is there a particular area in the brain responsible for the development of language abilities or is it only partially localized?
    • What fundamental reasons explain why ultimate attainment in
      native speaker
      's ability, with learners varying widely in performance?
    • What are the optimal ways to achieve successful second-language acquisition?
    • compositionality of bird calls as syntax)?[5]
    • What role does linguistic intuition play, how is it formed and how does it function? Is it closely linked to exposure to a unique set of different experiences and their contexts throughout one's personal life?
  • Linguistic relativity: What are the relations between grammatical patterns and cognitive habits of speakers of different languages? Does language use train or habituate speakers to certain cognitive habits that differ between speakers of different languages? Are effects of linguistic relativity caused by grammar structures or by cultural differences that underlie differences in language use.

Mind-body connection

Computational neuroscience

  • Computational theory of mind: What are the limits of understanding thinking as a form of computing?
  • Computational neuroscience:
    • How important is the precise timing of action potentials for information processing in the neocortex?
    • Is there a canonical computation performed by cortical columns?
    • How is information in the brain processed by the collective dynamics of large neuronal circuits?
    • What level of simplification is suitable for a description of information processing in the brain?
    • What is the neural code?
  • How do general anesthetics work?
  • The
    ontogenesis
    , etc.?

See also

References

  1. ^ Atmanspacher, Harald (2020), "Quantum Approaches to Consciousness", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2020 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2023-04-12
  2. ISBN 978-0-19-514822-0
    .
  3. PMID 25823865
    .
  4. doi:10.4000/philosophiascientiae.864
    .
  5. PMID 30110321
    .

External links
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_unsolved_problems_in_neuroscience&oldid=1189764293"