Explanation and the “brain sciences”

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 324-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel N. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Brain Sciences ◽  
The Brain

Philosophy and the Brain Sciences: Confrontation or Merger?

1980 ◽  
Vol 25 (12) ◽  
pp. 1008-1009
Author(s):  
DAVID L. WILSON
Keyword(s):  
Brain Sciences ◽  
The Brain

Wave of the Future? Reconsidering the Neuroscientific Turn in Art History

Leonardo ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-31
Author(s):  
Kate Mondloch
Keyword(s):  
Art History ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
The Body ◽  
History Taking ◽  
Brain Science ◽  
Works Of Art ◽  
Brain Sciences ◽  
The Brain

This essay examines the much-contested “neuroscientific turn” in art history, taking the cues of the best of the turn while rejecting its false starts. The most promising transdisciplinary encounters spanning the brain sciences and the humanities begin from the premise that human experience is embodied, but the “body” itself is interwoven across biological, ecological, phenomenological, social and cultural planes. Certain media artworks critically engaged with neuroscience productively model such an approach. Taking Mariko Mori’s brainwave interface and multimedia installation Wave UFO (1999–2002) as a case study, the author explores how works of art may complicate and augment brain science research as well as its dissemination into other social and cultural arenas.

Sex Differences Shape Brain Development and Function, in Health and Disease: Policy Implications

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Staci D. Bilbo
Keyword(s):  
Sex Differences ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Female Ratio ◽  
Brain Sciences ◽  
Health And Disease ◽  
Fundamental Research ◽  
And Function ◽  
Sex Disparity ◽  
The Brain

Sex differences profoundly impact health and disease. Despite this, the inclusion of females in clinical and fundamental research lags far behind advances in other aspects of medicine, especially in the brain sciences. Regardless of whether neuroscientists are intrinsically interested in sex differences per se, observing a sex disparity in the incidence or presentation of a given neurological disorder provides a significant clue into the neurobiology of that disorder. Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is one of the most sex-biased disorders, with a 4:1 male-to-female ratio, an important aspect of its etiology and biology that has largely been ignored in the preclinical literature. This article briefly overviews what is known about the sexual differentiation of the developing healthy brain, with a focus on the preclinical literature. This places observed sex differences in neurological disorders such as ASD into the context of known sex differences in neurobiology—along with insight from known sex-specific mechanisms in other systems that impact the brain (e.g., immune system, microbiome). Finally, the article provides recommendations for progress forward.

The footprints of neuroscience in Alexandria during the 3rd-century BC: Herophilus and Erasistratus

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 186-194
Author(s):  
Maria Ioanna Stefanou
Keyword(s):  
Neurological Disease ◽  
Cranial Nerves ◽  
Sensory Nerves ◽  
Hellenistic Period ◽  
Physiological Properties ◽  
Brain Sciences ◽  
History Of ◽  
Human Dissection ◽  
Human Intellect ◽  
The Brain

In the first half of the 3rd-century BC in Alexandria, the Greek physicians Herophilus of Chalcedon (ca. 330 to ca. 260 BC) and Erasistratus of Chios (ca. 315 to ca. 240 BC) became the first scientists in antiquity to comprehensively study the anatomical underpinnings and the physiological properties of mind processes. Their scientific theories were based on experimental evidence arising from anatomical human dissection studies. Among their neuroscientific achievements were the discovery of the cranial nerves, the meninges, the dural sinuses and the ventricles; the delineation of the motor and sensory nerves; the appraisal of the brain as the seat of consciousness and human intellect; and the attribution of neurological disease to dysfunction of the nervous system. This paper will discuss the short-lived historical circumstances that enabled the ground-breaking progress in the domain of brain sciences during the Hellenistic period. In addition, this paper will examine the intriguing social, political and cultural interplays that determined the resonance of Herophilus and Erasistratus’s work and influenced the course of history of neuroscience.

scholarly journals Working Models and the Synthetic Method

2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-34
Author(s):  
Peter Asaro
Keyword(s):  
Animal Behavior ◽  
Brain Function ◽  
Synthetic Method ◽  
Combined Approach ◽  
Working Models ◽  
Brain Sciences ◽  
Brain Models ◽  
Material Power ◽  
The Brain

This article examines the construction of electronic brain models in the 1940s as an instance of “working models” in science. It argues that the best way to understand the scientific role of these synthetic brains is through combining aspects of the “models as mediators” approach (Morgan and Morrison, 1999) and the “synthetic method” (Cordeschi, 2002). Taken together these approaches allow a fuller understanding of how working models functioned within the brain sciences of the time. This combined approach to understanding models is applied to an investigation of two electronic brains built in the late 1940s, the Homeostat of W. Ross Ashby, and the Tortoise of W. Grey Walter. It also examines the writings of Ashby, a psychiatrist and leading proponent of the synthetic brain models, and Walter, a brain electro-physiologist, and their ideas on the pragmatic values of such models. I conclude that rather than mere toys or publicity stunts, these electronic brains are best understood by considering the roles they played as mediators between disparate theories of brain function and animal behavior, and their combined metaphorical and material power.

What's All This Furor About an Enchanted Loom?

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 114-118
Author(s):  
Raymond Forbes
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Science Field ◽  
Brain Science ◽  
Brain Sciences ◽  
The Social ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
The Brain

This article explores the gowing interconnections between the brain sciences and the social sciences, It porvides a brief historical summary of the development of brain science, reviews advances in what is currently known about the brain, and dfdescribes where the field stands today. Importantly for those interested in the social sciences, the article also discusses the potential impact of the brain sciences on work in the discipline, indicates why we should care about developments in the brain science field, and provides some practical tools that have come out of the resrarxh, The article concludes with a summary of what the developments might mean for a social sciences practitioner.

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