The following is a list of notable unsolved problems in neuroscience. A problem is considered unsolved if no answer is known or if there is significant disagreement among experts about a proposed solution.
How can death be defined? Can consciousness exist after death?
If consciousness is generated by brain activity, then how do some patients with physically deteriorated brains suddenly gain a brief moment of restored consciousness prior to death, a phenomenon known as terminal lucidity?
Problem of representation: How exactly does the mind function (or how does the brain interpret and represent information about the world)?[4]
Bayesian mind: Does the mind make sense of the world by constantly trying to make predictions according to the rules of Bayesian probability?
Embodied cognition: Is the cognition of an organism affected by the organism's entire body (rather than just simply its brain), including its interactions with the environment?
Extended mind thesis: Does the mind not only exist in the brain, but also functions in the outside world by using physical objects as mental processes? Or just as prosthetic limbs can become part of the body, can handwritten notes become part of the mind?
Controversy: infant language acquisition/first-language acquisition. How are infants able to learn language? One line of debate is between two points of view: that of psychological nativism, i.e., the language ability is somehow "hardwired" in the human brain, and usage based theories of language, according to which language emerges through to brain's interaction with environment and activated by general dispositions for social interaction and communication, abstract symbolic thought and pattern recognition and inference.
Is the human ability to use syntax based on innate mental structures or is syntactic speech the function of intelligence and interaction with other humans? The question is closely related to those of language emergence and acquisition.
Is there a language acquisition device: How localized is language in the brain? Is there a particular area in the brain responsible for the development of language abilities or is it only partially localized?
What fundamental reasons explain why ultimate attainment in second-language acquisition is typically some way short of the native speaker's ability, with learners varying widely in performance?
Animals and language: How much human language can animals be taught to use? How much of animal communication can be said to have the same properties as human language (e.g. compositionality of bird calls as syntax)?[5]
What role does linguistic intuition play, how is it formed and how does it function? Is it closely linked to exposure to a unique set of different experiences and their contexts throughout one's personal life?
Linguistic relativity: What are the relations between grammatical patterns and cognitive habits of speakers of different languages? Does language use train or habituate speakers to certain cognitive habits that differ between speakers of different languages? Are effects of linguistic relativity caused by grammar structures or by cultural differences that underlie differences in language use.
^Atmanspacher, Harald (2020), "Quantum Approaches to Consciousness", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2020 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved 2023-04-12