Overviewing Causality or Over-Interpreting Noise: Is Modern Neuroscience Shaping Our View of the Human Mind?

In this paper, we discuss the pros and cons of noise in macro—as compared to microscopic research approaches of modern neuroscience. In the context of the respective field we mostly regard subsets of neural processes/functions. Comparing macroscopic and microscopic theoretical approaches to the human mind and cognition (i.e., top-down with bottom-up explanations of effects/behavior) leads us to the comparison of brain imaging/psychophysical methods—we approach this comparison qualitatively, arguing for a combination of measures and a more dimensional view on the human mind in neuroscientific theory.