Some of the yet unsolved problems of neuroscience include:
- Consciousness: What is the neuronal basis of subjective experience, cognition, wakefulness, alertness, arousal, and attention? How is the "hard problem of consciousness" solved? What is its function?
- Perception: How does the brain transfer sensory information into coherent, private percepts? What are the rules by which perception is organized? What are the features/objects that constitute our perceptual experience of internal and external events? How are the senses integrated? What is the relationship between subjective experience and the physical world?
- Learning and memory: Where do our memories get stored and how are they retrieved again? How can learning be improved? What is the difference between explicit and implicit memories? What molecule is responsible for synaptic tagging?
- Neuroplasticity: How plastic is the mature brain?
- Development and evolution: How and why did the brain evolve? What are the molecular determinants of individual brain development?
- Free will, particularly the Neuroscience of free will
- Sleep: Why do we dream? What are the underlying brain mechanisms? What is its relation to anesthesia?
- Cognition and decisions: How and where does the brain evaluate reward value and effort (cost) to modulate behavior? How does previous experience alter perception and behavior? What are the genetic and environmental contributions to brain function?
- Language: How is it implemented neurally? What is the basis of semantic meaning?
- Diseases: What are the neural bases (causes) of mental diseases like psychotic disorders (e.g. mania, schizophrenia), Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, or addiction? Is it possible to recover loss of sensory or motor function?
- Movement: How can we move so controllably, even though the motor nerve impulses seem haphazard and unpredictable?
- Computational theory of mind: What are the limits of understanding thinking as a form of computing?
Famous quotes containing the words unsolved problems, unsolved and/or problems:
“Play permits the child to resolve in symbolic form unsolved problems of the past and to cope directly or symbolically with present concerns. It is also his most significant tool for preparing himself for the future and its tasks.”
—Bruno Bettelheim (20th century)
“The child knows only that he engages in play because it is enjoyable. He isn’t aware of his need to play—a need which has its source in the pressure of unsolved problems. Nor does he know that his pleasure in playing comes from a deep sense of well-being that is the direct result of feeling in control of things, in contrast to the rest of his life, which is managed by his parents or other adults.”
—Bruno Bettelheim (20th century)
“In many ways, life becomes simpler [for young adults]. . . . We are expected to solve only a finite number of problems within a limited range of possible solutions. . . . It’s a mental vacation compared with figuring out who we are, what we believe, what we’re going to do with our talents, how we’re going to solve the social problems of the globe . . .and what the perfect way to raise our children will be.”
—Roger Gould (20th century)