Abstract: The article is devoted to critical reconsideration of the logic of
modern brain-mind studies. The classical distinction between two experimental
approaches should be kept in mind: (1) the psychophysiological approach, in
which mind and behavior represent a set of independent variables, and brain
represents a set of dependent variables; and (2) the biopsychological approach,
in which, to the contrary, the brain represents a set of independent variables,
and mind, that of dependent variables. For studying neurophysiological basis of
mind and consciousness, the use of the former approach alone can frequently
lead to absurd conclusions. The same is true for the modern functional
neuroimaging (FNI) because it follows the same experimental logic, in which it
regards the pattern of brain activation as the dependent variable and the
experimental task as the independent variable. Only the second approch may
permit correct conclusion regarding brain mechanisms of mental activity. The
belief that the high precision of FNI allows to overcome this limitation is an
illusion, because the limitation is of logical nature and not caused by
insufficient precision of a measurement technique. In contrast, FNI is
extremely useful in elucidating psychological problems in the proper sense and
in exploring important issues of psychological theory. Therefore,
psychologists, rather than neurophysiologists, should be the main beneficiaries
of FNI.
Keywords: Behavior, brain, experimental design, functional imaging, logic, mind
