Abstract

This chapter outlines a framework of multilevel neurocognitive mechanisms that incorporates neural representation and neural computation. Paradigmatic explanations in cognitive neuroscience fit this framework and thus cognitive neuroscience constitutes a break from traditional cognitive science. Whereas traditional cognitive scientific explanations were supposed to be distinct and autonomous from mechanistic explanations, neurocognitive explanations are mechanistic through and through. Neurocognitive explanations aim to integrate computational and representational functions and structures across multiple levels of organization in order to explain cognition. To a large extent, practicing cognitive neuroscientists have already accepted this shift, but philosophical theory has not fully acknowledged and appreciated its significance. As a result, the explanatory framework underlying cognitive neuroscience has remained largely implicit. This chapter explicates this framework and demonstrates its contrast with previous approaches.