The workings of the human mind will always be a seductive and challenging topic for human inquiry. How do our emotional states affect decision making? How do we perceive and estimate time? How do visualize mental images? How can we "inherit" a mental disease? How does learning alter perception? Until recently, mental processes have been studied primarily through analysis of behavior; this is the traditional domain of "cognitive science." Few would doubt, however, that the brain is the organ of cognition but neuroscience, the "wet" science of the brain, has had few tools available to probe the activities of the brain that form our mental life. A seemingly impermeable, though clearly artificial barrier has separated the human mind and brain; this barrier, however, is now beginning to fall.

Center Director: Tyrone Cannon