How we think about cognition, emotion, and biology in psychopathology

Abstract

The variety of potential relationships assumed between psychological and biological concepts fosters considerable misunderstanding of what our data can tell us. A naively reductionistic view of psychological concepts is prevalent, particularly in the psychopathology literature. A series of examples of the application of psychophysiological methods in studies of cognition, emotion, and psychopathology provides a background for a discussion of these problems. Unwarranted distinctions between cognition and emotion, between classes of measures, and between psychological and biological approaches to understanding normal functioning and psychopathology undermine the ability of cognitive neuroscience to achieve its considerable potential. A nondualistic, nonreductionistic, noninteractive relationship is recommended, with psychological and biological concepts both having central, necessary, and distinct roles.