Key papers in Cognitive Neuroscience
Pofolia’s corpus holds 70 papers from the Cognitive Neuroscience subfield (1990–2026). The list below starts with the most cited.
Most cited
Ranked by citation count. Because citations accumulate over time, this list naturally leans towards work published a few years ago; for where the field is now, see “recently added”.
How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school.
1999 · 12,907 citations
This foundational work synthesizes research on learning, highlighting how expertise develops through understanding concepts, not just memorizing facts, and emphasizing the importance of active, constructive learning environments.
The human brain is intrinsically organized into dynamic, anticorrelated functional networks
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2005 · Q1 · SJR 3.00 · FWCI 40.04 · 8,879 citations
The resting human brain exhibits an intrinsic organization of two dynamic, anticorrelated functional networks, mirroring task-related activation/deactivation patterns.
The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception
Psychology Press eBooks · 2014 · FWCI 198.81 · 8,835 citations
This seminal 1979 book proposes that natural vision is not solely dependent on the eye and brain, but rather on the entire visual system: the eyes, head, body, and interaction with the environment.
Emotion Circuits in the Brain
Annual Review of Neuroscience · 2000 · Q1 · SJR 7.00 · FWCI 74.20 · 8,415 citations
The amygdala is a key brain region for acquiring, storing, and expressing fear memory, with detailed mechanisms elucidated through fear conditioning studies.
The Attention System of the Human Brain
Annual Review of Neuroscience · 1990 · Q1 · SJR 7.00 · FWCI 47.52 · 7,920 citations
The brain's default mode network, comprising discrete, bilateral, and symmetrical cortical areas across medial and lateral parietal, prefrontal, and temporal cortices, is conserved across humans, nonhuman primates, cats, and rodents.
Science
Science · 2023 · Q1 · SJR 10.00 · 6,068 citations
Researchers developed a novel asymmetric α-addition method for attaching hydrocarbon groups like allyl and aryl to aldehydes and ketones, a long-standing challenge in organic synthesis.
Whatever next? Predictive brains, situated agents, and the future of cognitive science
Behavioral and Brain Sciences · 2013 · Q3 · FWCI 116.90 · 5,941 citations · Open access
This article critically examines the 'hierarchical prediction machine' approach, arguing it represents the most promising framework yet for a unified science of mind and action.
Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children Aged 8 Years — Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 11 Sites, United States, 2014
MMWR Surveillance Summaries · 2018 · Q1 · SJR 14.00 · FWCI 346.37 · 5,528 citations · Open access
In 2014, the overall prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) was 16.8 per 1,000 (1 in 59) eight-year-old children across 11 US sites, with significant variations by location, sex, and race/ethnicity.
PsychoPy2: Experiments in behavior made easy
Behavior Research Methods · 2019 · Q1 · SJR 2.00 · FWCI 185.05 · 5,453 citations · Open access
PsychoPy2 introduces a new graphical 'Builder' interface alongside its existing Python scripting, enabling researchers to create behavioral experiments with minimal or no programming.
Sleep Drives Metabolite Clearance from the Adult Brain
Science · 2013 · Q1 · SJR 10.00 · FWCI 90.72 · 5,344 citations
Natural sleep or anesthesia in mice increases the interstitial space in the brain by 60%, significantly enhancing the clearance of metabolic waste products like beta-amyloid.
<i>Conn</i> : A Functional Connectivity Toolbox for Correlated and Anticorrelated Brain Networks
Brain Connectivity · 2012 · Q2 · FWCI 29.90 · 5,082 citations
A new toolbox named Conn has been developed to improve the statistical analysis of resting-state functional connectivity (rs-fcMRI) by implementing a component-based noise correction method (CompCor). This approach allows for the interpretation of anticorrelations, which are often obscured by global signal regression methods.
EEGNet: a compact convolutional neural network for EEG-based brain–computer interfaces
Journal of Neural Engineering · 2018 · Q1 · SJR 1.00 · FWCI 64.30 · 4,339 citations
A new compact convolutional neural network, EEGNet, demonstrates generalization across multiple brain-computer interface (BCI) paradigms and achieves high performance with limited training data.
BrainNet Viewer: A Network Visualization Tool for Human Brain Connectomics
PLoS ONE · 2013 · Q1 · FWCI 63.28 · 4,322 citations · Open access
A new MATLAB-based toolbox, BrainNet Viewer, has been developed to visualize complex human brain connectomes using graph-theoretical network analysis.
Cognitive Psychology and Its Implications
2014 · 4,135 citations
This work offers a systematic introduction to the theoretical and experimental underpinnings of higher mental processes, bridging neural functions with cognitive phenomena.
Dual-Process Theories of Higher Cognition
Perspectives on Psychological Science · 2013 · Q1 · SJR 4.00 · FWCI 74.62 · 4,104 citations
Dual-process theories, positing distinct rapid (Type 1) and deliberate (Type 2) cognitive systems, are defended against recent criticisms by arguing that the distinction is supported by substantial evidence, with Type 2 processing uniquely supporting hypothetical thinking and heavy working memory load.
The Brain's Default Mode Network
Annual Review of Neuroscience · 2015 · Q1 · SJR 7.00 · FWCI 79.36 · 4,087 citations
The brain's default mode network, comprising specific cortical areas, was unexpectedly discovered through brain-imaging studies comparing attention-demanding tasks with quiet repose.
MEG and EEG data analysis with MNE-Python
Frontiers in Neuroscience · 2013 · Q2 · SJR 1.00 · FWCI 9.80 · 4,039 citations · Open access
MNE-Python is an open-source software package providing state-of-the-art algorithms for analyzing brain activity from M/EEG signals.
Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children Aged 8 Years — Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, 11 Sites, United States, 2016
MMWR Surveillance Summaries · 2020 · Q1 · SJR 14.00 · FWCI 259.09 · 3,868 citations · Open access
In 2016, the prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) was 18.5 per 1,000 children aged 8 years across 11 US sites, a higher rate than previous estimates, with significant variations observed by geographic location.
Hearing Loss and Cognitive Decline in Older Adults
JAMA Internal Medicine · 2013 · Q1 · SJR 4.00 · FWCI 122.01 · 3,822 citations
Older adults with hearing loss experienced significantly faster cognitive decline, with 41% greater decline in global function and 32% greater decline in executive function compared to those with normal hearing.
Local-Global Parcellation of the Human Cerebral Cortex from Intrinsic Functional Connectivity MRI
Cerebral Cortex · 2017 · Q1 · SJR 1.00 · FWCI 48.68 · 3,809 citations · Open access
A new gradient-weighted Markov Random Field (gwMRF) model integrates local and global functional connectivity patterns to parcellate the human cerebral cortex more effectively than previous methods.
Recently added
Maya-Prana: Metabolic Plasticity Budget for Continual Learning in Affective Spiking Neural Networks
Open MIND · 2026 · 130 citations
A revised claim states that the Maya-Prana model's metabolic plasticity budget (Prana) maintains a full budget (1.0000) across all 10 tasks of Split-CIFAR-100, indicating astrocytic metabolic supply does not fail under standard cognitive load, with Condition F (Buddhi gate removed, flat learning rate) achieving 13.68% AA and -51.20% BWT.
Shakti: A Trauma-Informed Trilingual Women's Safety AI with Neuromorphic Affective Arbitration — Architecture, Dataset Design, and Training Methodology
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026 · 129 citations
Shakti, a women's safety AI for India, has had its claims revised: threat detection is limited to Latin script substring matching, rendering it ineffective for Indian languages; its evaluation was based on only two prompts without clinical validation; and a tier escalation mechanism lacks de-escalation.
V01.05 — Mirror Mathematics II: Minimal Observer Thresholds
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026 · 21 citations
This paper defines a formal threshold for when a self-model becomes 'observer-relevant' rather than just predictive, based on reliability, action-guidance, and cost-sensitive repair under perturbation.
V01.03 — Mirror Theory III: Recursive Observerhood in Context
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026 · 13 citations
Mirror Theory is presented not as a replacement for existing cognitive science frameworks, but as a bridge that explicitly targets 'observerhood' as a key explanatory concept.
Parenting the First Non-Human Minds (Verification Intelligence series, Paper 10 of 12)
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) · 2026 · 31 citations
This paper argues that traditional AI control methods are insufficient for advanced AI and proposes 'AI formation'—developing internal values and self-correction through experience—as a more effective alignment strategy.
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