Carlo Caltagirone e Alberto Costa

Summary:
The aim of this paper is to provide some insights on the discussion about the possibility of a joint-venture between psychoanalysis and neuroscience Our perspective defines a dynamic relationship between psychoanalysis and neuroscience. Indeed, the cultural and technological changes that have occurred in the two domains, mainly related to new concepts of brain-mind system functioning and to the development of neuroimaging techniques, constitute the basic premise for renewed interest in common research. Some important contributions to explain issues of mutual interest can be found in the study of affective regulation and the memory system, particularly of implicit memory processes. For example, the recent observations on the dynamic functioning of the neural system underlying the organization of the emotional experience are very useful for explaining some issues of the object-relation theory. Studies will suggest the possibility of constructing a research paradigm combining the richness of the psychoanalytic model with the reliability of the neuropsychological method