From Brain to Binary: The Neuroscience Behind Writing and Understanding Code

Abstract

Although in the modern, technology-driven world, programming is significant, the psychological and biological mechanisms of coding have been comparatively understudied. This paper is a discussion of the interface between neuroscience and computer programming with the topic of cognitive processes of program understanding, code writing and debugging. We also look at the relationship between these processes and natural language and mathematical reasoning, and find common and different neural substrates in these processes. With the support of neuroimaging, cognitive psychology, and computational modelling, we suggest a clear and systematic way of studying the knowledge of programming. Combining the results of these areas, we introduce a complete overview of the neural and cognitive mechanisms that underlie programming, the involvement of general executive functions, i.e., working memory, attention, and cognitive control. Our review indicates that the degree of activation of these processes varies with the development of programming skills, which is an indicator of neuroplasticity and higher efficiency of neural processing.  We also determine significant gaps in existing research and provide future research directions, especially in the domains of learning optimisation, accessibility, and design of human-AI collaborative programming environments. This combined method focuses on the interaction of general cognitive systems and specialised programming skills, which gives information on learning, interface design and improvement of programming skills.