Refocusing Neuroscience: Moving Away from Mental Categories and Toward Complex Behaviors
Mental terms—such as perception, cognition, action, emotion, as well as attention, memory, decision-making—are epistemically sterile. We support our thesis based on extensive comparative neuroanatomy knowledge of the organization of the vertebrate brain. Evolutionary pressures have moulded the centr...
| Authors: | ; ; |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Status: | Published version |
| Publication date: | 2021 |
| Country: | España |
| Institution: | Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya) |
| Repository: | Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:recercat.cat:10459.1/72686 |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0534 http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/72686 |
| Access Level: | Open access |
| Keyword: | Mental functions Structure–function relationship Brain evolution |
| _version_ | 1878738606203338752 |
|---|---|
| author | Pessoa, Luiz |
| author2 | Medina Hernández, Loreta Mª Desfilis, Ester |
| author2_role | author author |
| author_browse | Desfilis, Ester Medina Hernández, Loreta Mª Pessoa, Luiz |
| author_facet | Pessoa, Luiz Medina Hernández, Loreta Mª Desfilis, Ester |
| author_role | author |
| collection | Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya |
| description | Mental terms—such as perception, cognition, action, emotion, as well as attention, memory, decision-making—are epistemically sterile. We support our thesis based on extensive comparative neuroanatomy knowledge of the organization of the vertebrate brain. Evolutionary pressures have moulded the central nervous system to promote survival. Careful characterization of the vertebrate brain shows that its architecture supports an enormous amount of communication and integration of signals, especially in birds and mammals. The general architecture supports a degree of ‘computational flexibility’ that enables animals to cope successfully with complex and ever-changing environments. Here, we suggest that the vertebrate neuroarchitecture does not respect the boundaries of standard mental terms, and propose that neuroscience should aim to unravel the dynamic coupling between large-scale brain circuits and complex, naturalistic behaviours. |
| eu_rights_str_mv | openAccess |
| format | article |
| id | ES_b1d07f0840e8f0bdf4144b686c6cd51b |
| institution | Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya) |
| instname_str | Varias* (Consorci de Biblioteques Universitáries de Catalunya, Centre de Serveis Científics i Acadèmics de Catalunya) |
| network_acronym_str | ES |
| network_name_str | España |
| oai_identifier_str | oai:recercat.cat:10459.1/72686 |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publishDateSort | 2021 |
| publisher | The Royal Society |
| publisherStr | The Royal Society |
| reponame_str | Recercat. Dipósit de la Recerca de Catalunya |
| spelling | Refocusing Neuroscience: Moving Away from Mental Categories and Toward Complex Behaviors Pessoa, Luiz Medina Hernández, Loreta Mª Desfilis, Ester Mental functions Structure–function relationship Brain evolution Mental terms—such as perception, cognition, action, emotion, as well as attention, memory, decision-making—are epistemically sterile. We support our thesis based on extensive comparative neuroanatomy knowledge of the organization of the vertebrate brain. Evolutionary pressures have moulded the central nervous system to promote survival. Careful characterization of the vertebrate brain shows that its architecture supports an enormous amount of communication and integration of signals, especially in birds and mammals. The general architecture supports a degree of ‘computational flexibility’ that enables animals to cope successfully with complex and ever-changing environments. Here, we suggest that the vertebrate neuroarchitecture does not respect the boundaries of standard mental terms, and propose that neuroscience should aim to unravel the dynamic coupling between large-scale brain circuits and complex, naturalistic behaviours. L.P.’s research is supported by the National Institute of Mental Health (grant nos. MH071589 and MH112517). E.D.’s and L.M.’s research is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grant no. PID2019-108725RB-100). The Royal Society https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0534 http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/72686 |
| spellingShingle | Refocusing Neuroscience: Moving Away from Mental Categories and Toward Complex Behaviors Pessoa, Luiz Mental functions Structure–function relationship Brain evolution |
| status_str | publishedVersion |
| title | Refocusing Neuroscience: Moving Away from Mental Categories and Toward Complex Behaviors |
| title_full | Refocusing Neuroscience: Moving Away from Mental Categories and Toward Complex Behaviors |
| title_fullStr | Refocusing Neuroscience: Moving Away from Mental Categories and Toward Complex Behaviors |
| title_full_unstemmed | Refocusing Neuroscience: Moving Away from Mental Categories and Toward Complex Behaviors |
| title_short | Refocusing Neuroscience: Moving Away from Mental Categories and Toward Complex Behaviors |
| title_sort | Refocusing Neuroscience: Moving Away from Mental Categories and Toward Complex Behaviors |
| topic | Mental functions Structure–function relationship Brain evolution |
| topic_facet | Mental functions Structure–function relationship Brain evolution |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0534 http://hdl.handle.net/10459.1/72686 |