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Intellectica, 1992 1/2, 13-14, pp. 241-271

Simon J. Thorpe

Psychology and Neuroscience : Towards a Common Language

1. Introduction

In recent years, scientists have been increasingly called upon to develop interdisciplinary research programs. For some, interdisciplinarity is essential if we are to make progress in the future. For others, it's a waste of time. Who is right? In this article, I would like to take the case of research in Psychology and Neuroscience, and ask to what extent interdisciplinary research is (a) feasible, and (b) desirable. I will conclude that, although for large parts of Psychology and Neuroscience interdisciplinary collaborations have little to offer, for many scientists working on particular topics, collaboration with other disciplines can be highly profitable.

There will no doubt be some readers who are already convinced that Neuroscience and Psychology can indeed cohabit -for them I will be preaching to the converted. The last decade has seen the development of a research domain entitled "Cognitive Neuroscience" whose very existence shows that the dividing lines between Psychology and Neuroscience are becoming increasingly blurred (Churchland and Sejnowski, 1988, LeDoux and Hirst, 1986, Requin, 1987, Scheibel and Wechsler, 1990, Thompson, 1990). In 1989 Michael Gazzaniga founded an interdisciplinary journal ("Journal of Cognitive