Understanding the brain requires us to answer both what the brain does, and how it does it. Using a series of examples, I make the case that behavior is often more useful than neuroscientific measurements for answering the first question. Moreover, I show that even for "how" questions that pertain to neural mechanism, a well-crafted behavioral paradigm can offer deeper insight and stronger constraints on computational and mechanistic models than do many highly challenging (and very expensive) neural studies. I conclude that purely behavioral research is essential for understanding the brain-especially its cognitive functions-contrary to the opinion of prominent funding bodies and some scientific journals, who erroneously place neural data on a pedestal and consider behavior to be subsidiary. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

中文翻译：

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行为研究对于理解大脑的首要地位。

了解大脑需要我们回答大脑做什么以及它是如何做的。使用一系列例子，我证明行为通常比回答第一个问题的神经科学测量更有用。此外，我表明，即使对于与神经机制有关的“如何”问题，精心设计的行为范式也可以提供比许多极具挑战性（且非常昂贵）的神经研究更深入的洞察力和对计算和机械模型的更强约束。我的结论是，纯粹的行为研究对于理解大脑——尤其是它的认知功能——是必不可少的，这与著名的资助机构和一些科学期刊的观点相反，他们错误地将神经数据放在一个基座上，并认为行为是次要的。（PsycInfo 数据库记录 (c) 2021 APA，