  The objective of this chapter is to provide a guide to using functional
magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to inform cognitive theory. This is, of
course, a daunting task, as the premise itself - that fMRI data can inform
cognitive theory - is still actively debated. Below, we touch on this debate as
a means of framing our guide. In particular, we argue that cognitive theories
can be constrained by neuroscientific data, including that offered by fMRI, but
to do so requires embellishing the cognitive theory so that it can make
predictions for neuroscience; much the same as how testing a cognitive theory
using behavior requires embellishing that theory to make experimentally
realizable behavioral predictions (i.e., the process of generating operational
definitions). Moreover, recent years have seen the development of several new
approaches that allow fMRI to better test neurally-embellished models. Along
with a review of several ways of testing neurally-embellished cognitive theory
using fMRI, we also consider the inferential challenges that can accompany
these approaches. Readers of this chapter should gain an understanding of both
of the potential power and the challenges associated with fMRI as a cognitive
neuroscience methodology.
