neuroscience perspective strengths and weaknesses

3, p 403). Removing brakes on adult brain plasticity: from molecular to behavioral interventions. there is an almost literally infinite number of possible interactions between these variables Neurosci. Overall the strengths and the weakness of the research methods adopted by cognitive neuroscientists discussed in my essay (TMS, CAT, PET and FMRI) had a variety of strengths and weaknesses. Similarly to many areas of study on the effects of poverty on development, epigenetic analyses of early brain development in humans are in their early stages. Nat. Trends Cogn. Dr. Choi is Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Oregon Health and Sciences University, Portland, OR, Chair of the AAPL Forensic Psychiatry Committee, and Director, Forensic Evaluation Service, Oregon State Hospital, Salem, OR. In order to understand something it is important to know the history and have a definition. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8624.2011.01643.x, Bradley, R. H., and Corwyn, R. F. (2002). Front. For instance, Essex et al. It is likely that environmental stimulation does influence learning. Psychoanalysis is a method of therapy in which the patient talks about experiences, early childhood, and dreams. Based on its location and size, it is plausible that Mr. Weinstein's cyst contributed to behavioral impairments and thus potentially is relevant to finders of fact, but because of biovariability, the neuroimages alone cannot establish whether he was impaired, nor can it establish, if impaired, to what extent the brain defect was a contributing cause. (2013b). The resulting gold mine of brainbehavior correlative data will allow neuroscience experts to make far more accurate individual inferences. On the other hand, what should we do if the neuroevidence conflicts with behavioral evidence? In this study, these theories will be . Auditory critical periods: a review from systems perspective. First, we propose to increase the focus on the study of variables, factors and mechanisms that mediate the effects of poverty on different cognitive and emotional processes to complement the analysis of impacts. Ethological Explanations of Aggression Ethology Evolution of Human Aggression Fixed Action Patterns Frustration Aggression Hypothesis Gender and Aggression Genetic Origins of Aggression Genetic Research on Serotonin Genetical Research on Testosterone Genetics of Aggression Innate Releasing Mechanisms I discuss two fundamental problems that limit the evidentiary utility of neuroscience-based claims: the problems of reverse inference and group-to-individual inference. Commentary: neurocognitive consequences of socioeconomic disparities. In the case of the neural circuits involved in complex behaviors, the closure of sensitive periods seems to depend on whether they are associated with circuits performing computations at either basic or complex levels, such as feature representation, categorization function, top-down interactions, and cross-modal reorganization (Kral, 2013). (2013) examined differences in DNA methylation in adolescents for several genes (GR (NR3C1), dopamine receptor (DRD4), serotonin transporter (5HTT), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), and dopamine transporter (DAT1)) in relation to their parents reports of hardship during childhood. Environmental noise exposure degrades normal listening processes. (2012). Neurosci. U S A 102, 1493114936. After all, it is generally accepted, based on a vast amount of clinical evidence and basic research, that the frontal lobes play an important role in cognitive control and decision-making,20 and that individuals with defects in frontal lobe areas such as orbitofrontal cortex, the area of frontal cortex adjacent to the orbits, exhibit impaired impulse control and impaired decision-making, among other findings.21, However, let us consider a famous example from the neurolaw literature: the case of Herbert Weinstein.22 This case is considered a landmark criminal proceeding in neurolaw, as it is the first known attempt in New York to use neuroimaging to argue for insanity.23 Mr. Weinstein, an advertising executive in his mid-60s with no prior psychiatric or criminal history at the time of the incident, was accused of, and later confessed to, killing his wife by throwing her out the window of their 12th-story apartment after a heated argument.24 A structural MRI was obtained after the act, which revealed a large, left-side arachnoid cyst. Neuroscience 280, 282298. For example, Ganzel et al. doi: 10.1037/a0031808, Ganzel, B., Morris, P., and Wethington, E. (2010). Hum. Although neuroscience's proper role in the courts is limited by the problems mentioned above, I also believe that neuroscience evidence can be very useful. Linking childhood poverty and cognition: environmental mediators of non-verbal executive control in an Argentine sample. doi: 10.1038/nrn2897, Hensch, T. K. (2004). The reverse-inference error in this case involves qEEG, but because the problem arises from the basic design of the brain (brain areas do multiple things), it applies equally to all other modalities that purport to measure brain activity, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET). We are well-suited to analyze behaviors, having evolved both neural hardware (expanded areas of the brain that support theory of mind)44 and software (folk psychology)45 to ascribe intentions to the behaviors of others as a matter of survival.46 However, the same areas of brain that allow mentalization also enable deception47 because we can best deceive when we know how other minds work; behaviors can be faked, so malingering is a perennial concern. 1, 101109. Individual and combined effects on childrens development. Let's start by highlighting that our brains have limited capacity to process information and the world provides way more than our brains can handle, which is why we need mental short cuts/habits to function. Environmental acoustic enrichment promotes recovery from developmentally degraded auditory cortical processing. Neuroscience has been criticized by some philosophers because the methods and inferences are suspicious of not being logic neither scientific, when relating the brain to the mind, therefore this discipline would not be scientific, at least in the way it has been applied. At the other extreme of the scale, advances in computing power are enabling researchers to create automated three-dimensional reconstructions of electron microscope slices of brain, albeit, in small volumes thus far, at molecular scale resolution.56, Regarding more clinically relevant imaging, the magnetic strength, and therefore resolution, of MRI machines continues to advance. Front. Copyright 2023 by The American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Neuroscience as a field is driven by our natural fascination with understanding how a physical organ, weighing three pounds and running on 20 watts of power, can give rise to the mind, and with it, our thoughts, feelings, soul, and identity. 4:3. doi: 10.3389/neuro.09.003.2010, Rao, H., Betancourt, L., Giannetta, J. M., Brodsky, N. L., Korczykowski, M., Avants, B. Hearing ability depends on different degrees of environmental noise exposure (Zhou and Merzenich, 2012), and acoustic enrichment of the environment may promote recovery of auditory cortical processing (Zhu et al., 2014). Furthermore, neuroscience currently lacks the evidence base to predict, based on neuroimaging, how likely cysts like Mr. Weinstein's cause impairment. (2013). Salivary cortisol mediates effects of poverty and parenting on executive functions in early childhood. There are several known sources of biovariability that make individual predictions of brain impairment devilishly tricky. Epigenetic vestiges of early developmental adversity: childhood stress exposure and DNA methylation in adolescence. 10, 647658. In other words, although we may be guided by science in making moral decisions, ultimately they remain ours to make. The authors want to thank CONICET, CEMIC, FONCYT, and Fundacin Conectar for their support, their colleagues at the Unidad de Neurobiologa Aplicada, and Jennifer Simonds and Lesa Ellis for proofreading the manuscript and making suggestions that contributed to its enrichment. Psychol. The use, distribution and reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. In a practical context, the BrainMind Audit Profile (that contains 9 metrics) provides information on the strengths and weaknesses of an individual's brain-and-mind functioning, and by doing . Sci. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1304437110, Noble, K. G., Houston, S. M., Kan, E., and Sowell, E. R. (2012). Cognitive psychology--the study of how people think and process information--helps . Effects of stress throughout the lifespan on the brain, behavior and cognition. Neurosci. (2013). doi: 10.1111/j.1467-7687.2012.01147.x, Raizada, R. D. S., and Kishiyama, M. M. (2010). Trusting Your Gut. Psychosom. All of this should help contribute with the identification and the better comprehension of the mechanisms of mediation of early adversity on brain development. doi: 10.1002/dev.20057, Jolles, D. D., and Crone, E. A. 8:276. doi: 10.3389/fnins.2014.00276, Bryck, R. L., and Fisher, P. A. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4812-10.2010, Beaver, K. M., Wright, J. P., DeLisi, M., and Vaughn, M. G. (2012). Sci. Prog. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0b013e3181e1a23c, Goldin, A. P., Hermida, M. J., Shalom, D. E., Elias Costa, M., Lopez-Rosenfeld, M., Segretin, M. S., et al. Dev. This means the explanations can be scientifically tested, replicated, and peer-reviewed. doi: 10.1111/desc.12087, Shonkoff, J. P., and Bales, S. N. (2011). Transformation of cortical and hippocampal neural circuit by environmental enrichment. Such determinations are essentially moral judgments that require understanding behaviors and mental states against the backdrop of cultural norms. Not only do researchers fail to detect real effects, but of more concern, they may also falsely determine null effects to be real. TMS has strengths and weaknesses behaviour. Certain patterns have emerged: speculations clothed as facts, errors of logical reasoning, and hasty conclusions unsupported by evidence and unrestrained by caution. In comparison with previous reviews (e.g., Hackman and Farah, 2009; Lipina and Colombo, 2009; Hackman et al., 2010; Raizada and Kishiyama, 2010; Lipina and Posner, 2012), our perspective synthesizes findings, and summarizes both conceptual and methodological contributions, as well as challenges that face current neuroscientific approaches to the study of childhood poverty. qEEG signals have not yet been adequately characterized in the general population, and definitions are needed to distinguish what is a normal or abnormal signal in the first place. Nutr. NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. 16, 665675. Bakermans-Kranenburg, M. J., and van Ijzendoorn, M. H. (2011). (2010). 27, p 26N). When behavioral evidence conflicts with neuroimaging findings, in general the high percentage move will be to side with the behavioral, because neuroscience is so poor at predicting individual outcomes of brain defects. This is the concept of cognitive reserve,31 which explains why the symptoms of Alzheimer's dementia, for example, are often not apparent until decades after brain damage is thought to begin. Each technique has its strengths and weaknesses, and knowing them allows researchers to decide what each offers for . 23, 15. After the accident, Gage's personality was said to have changed as a result of the damage the frontal lobe of his brain. Sci. Proc. Dev. Forensic psychiatrists will be increasingly asked to opine on neuroevidence, and thus we must be able to distinguish neuroscience from neuro-nonsense. Gage suffered a severe brain injury from an iron rod penetrating his skull, of which he miraculously survived. Dev. We truly live in the golden age of neuroscience. In the basic sciences, optogenetics,53 a technology invented by psychiatrist Karl Deisseroth in 2005,54 continues to reap rich rewards. Child Dev. Consider a clinical example: a patient walks into your office complaining of back pain and asks for opiates. The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The aim of this effort is to identify target areas of study that could potentially help build a basic and applied research agenda for the coming years. Rev. The aim of this section is to highlight the contributions made by neuroscientific research, that have allowed the growth and expansion of the field of poverty and brain development in recent years. Nat. Findings of brain defects in individuals may raise valid and plausible claims of impairment. Fourth, we suggest the development of innovative studies directed at analyzing plasticity of complex cognitive and emotional processes, and their respective windows of opportunities for intervention (Lipina and Colombo, 2009; DAngiulli et al., 2012; Lipina and Posner, 2012). Environmental enrichment and the brain. Dopaminergic polymorphisms and educational attainment: results from a longitudinal sample of Americans. Specifically, tasks involving language, cognitive control and memory demands have provided evidence that suggests that these systems may be the most frequently affected by SES adverse environments. Further, even if abnormality could be established, the field currently lacks (with rare exceptions9) adequate studies that correlate qEEG signals with legally relevant functional impairments. I have found that although neuroevidence is rarely dispositive on its own, it can be very useful to direct and support other kinds of evidence, such as neuropsychological testing and old-school behavioral analysis. Neuroscience as a field is hindered by underpowered study designs that involve sample sizes that are too small. Strength It has a wide range View the full answer Transcribed image text: Disclosures of financial or other potential conflicts of interest: None. doi: 10.1002/dev.20058, Miller, G. E., and Chen, E. (2013). doi: 10.1146/annurev.psych.53.100901.135233, Brito, N. H., and Noble, K. (2014). As a generally noninvasive subset of neuroscience methods, psychophysiological methods are used across a variety of disciplines in order to answer diverse questions about psychology, both mental events and behavior. Like every theory, some people find the humanistic approach to be valid while others see it for the numerous inherent flaws. Enhanced efficiency of the executive attention network after training in preschool children: immediate changes and effects after two months. Vulnerable Child. However, because the amygdala is active in many other circumstances, it is a reverse-inference error to conclude that amygdala activity necessarily indicates a fearful state. The five major perspectives in psychology are biological, psychodynamic, behavioral, cognitive and humanistic. A limitation is that most biological explanations are reductionist. Because the brain is such a dynamic organ, one cannot reliably reconstruct from a neuroscan the brain's function at the time of the index event. (2013). Psychol. However, as discussed above, neuroscience-based claims are limited by problems of reverse inference and group-to-individual inference and thus can rarely go beyond establishing that an impairment is plausible. 23, 3952. Rev. Psychopathol. Moreover, the consideration of sensitive periods for many processes susceptible to different socioeconomic conditions and timing of intervention requires a revision of the agendas in other disciplines addressing childhood poverty (e.g., many disciplines currently contend that the impacts of economic and social deprivation are permanent and irreversible) (DAngiulli et al., 2012). doi: 10.1111/j.1529-1006.2005.00024.x, Johnson, M. H. (2005). Neurosci. For instance, recently, the topic of stress regulation has been included in the study of poverty and cognitive development through different perspectives, such as vulnerability and environmental susceptibility (Ellis and Boyce, 2011; Hackman et al., 2012; Sheridan et al., 2013), the impact of poverty on executive functions (Blair et al., 2011), and even child development policy (Shonkoff and Bales, 2011). Predictors of cognitive enhancement after training in preschoolers from diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. . The bottom line: forensic psychiatrists must be very wary of assertions in which the presence or absence of activation of a given brain area (e.g., amygdala and frontal lobes) is interpreted to mean that the person experienced a specific mental state. In terms of impacts, mediating mechanisms, hypotheses and the interpretation of data obtained by applying molecular, behavioral, and neuroimaging techniques seems to focus mainly on the comparison of performance and degree of activation rather than the identification of mediating mechanisms (Hackman and Farah, 2009; Lipina and Colombo, 2009; Hackman et al., 2010; Raizada and Kishiyama, 2010; Lipina and Posner, 2012). Mr. Weinstein's lawyers signaled their intent to use the neuroimages at trial to establish that he was insane. Beyond arachnoid cysts, the inability to make individual predictions is a general problem for any claim that a localized brain defect is responsible for a functional impairment in an individual or that an impairment is caused by a particular brain defect. For confirmation, we must look to other kinds of evidence. Cognitive neuroscience combines the experimental strategies of cognitive psychology with various techniques to actually examine how brain function supports mental activities. Neuroscience perspective is the study of the body's functional psychological processes, based on the activities of the neural and structural changes or alterations in the brain. The aim of this assignment is to understand Psychological Perspectives and analyse what each perspective's strengths and weaknesses are. Neuroscience must also embark on large normative studies to understand the prevalence rates of brain defects and functional impairments in the general population. Recent studies that have examined the causes of lack of replicability38 in published research have made clear that neuroscience researchers should sharpen their game. The scientific nature of the approach is one worthy of discussing as it can be both a strength and weakness, as is its reductionist nature. J. Neurosci. I have found too much weight placed on isolated neurofindings and too little weight on good clinical observation and other kinds of behavioral evidence. What makes us best suited for judging other people is that we are people. MaskotOwner/Getty Images. . 7, 343348. Rev. 6:238. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2012.00238, Lipina, S., Segretin, S., Hermida, J., Prats, L., Fracchia, C., Camelo, J. L., et al. Nat. Finally, in the interests of justice, when we recognize that neuroscience is being misused or misrepresented, we must be forthright in communicating this information to finders of fact. Neurosci. Of course, these are not the only barriers to CT; rather, they are five that may have the most impact on how one applies CT. 1. A dominant cognitive approach evolved, advocating that sensory information is manipulated internally prior to responses made - influenced by, for . I end by discussing what I believe are genuinely useful applications of neuroscience in the courtroom: as a hypothesis generator and as support for other types of evidence. Strengths and weaknesses both matter, and both are us. In other words, at this point, in most cases careful behavioral analysis continues to be more reliable than neuroimaging in ascertaining the relevant mental states, capacities, and behaviors that form the actual basis of legal criteria. (2012). Critical period regulation. Hum. The impoverished brain: disparities in maternal education affect the neural response to sound. Nat. *Correspondence: Sebastin J. Lipina, Unidad de Neurobiologa Aplicada (UNA, CEMIC-CONICET), Moldes 2152 1A, Buenos Aires, C1428CRH Capital Federal, Argentina e-mail: lipina@gmail.com, Critical Neuroscience: The context and implications of human brain research, View all The study of how adverse environmental conditions (e.g., socioeconomic status (SES) or poverty) influence brain organization and reorganization during development includes different approaches. Behaviourism: "Behaviourism (also called behavioural psychology) refers to a psychological approach which emphasises scientific and objective methods of investigation" (Simple Psychology, 2016). Neuroscience and Psychology offer a powerful insight as to what is happening in our brains and those of others. Beautiful, high-resolution images are impressive, but for legal applications, what neuroscience needs is more data, particularly in the form of large, normative survey studies, as mentioned earlier. It is generally accepted now that brain functions are indeed localized (functional specialization18), but only to a certain extent. Specifically, current research on the timing of structural and functional development of different neural systems, the multiplicity of levels of organization, and the importance of epigenetics shows that these are important factors in the interpretation of the findings on poverty and brain development. Brain Res. This means that the understanding of the role of the epigenome on the behavioral modifications driven by early experiences could contribute to our understanding of the relationship between childhood poverty and brain development. Development as a dynamic system. Neurotoxicants, micronutrients and social environments. Critical period: a history of the transition from questions of when, to what, to how. Natl. 46, 287292. One of the areas in which these advancements have been verified is the study of stress regulation in early adverse developmental contexts. doi: 10.1038/nrn2639, Michel, G. F., and Tayler, A. N. (2005). Rev. B., et al. 85, 614S620S. Subsequent PET scans established glucose hypometabolism in the area of the cyst, as well as surrounding areas.25. Take for example, a neuroscience expert's claim, relying on quantitative electroencephalogram (qEEG) data, that an individual's amygdala is abnormal and overactive. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. 16, 697707. (2005). Proc. The presence of brain defects can certainly raise plausible questions of mental impairment, but can only rarely answer them. J. Clin. (2010). doi: 10.1038/nrn2699, Hubbs-Tait, L., Nation, J. R., Krebs, N. F., and Bellinger, D. C. (2005). However, it is a dry kind of evidence, abstract and statistical, limiting its persuasive impact. In addition, recent cumulative evidence suggests that differential susceptibility to the rearing environment may depend on variations in dopamine-related genes. Commun. Behavioral evidence is the gold standard for determining functional impairment. Additionally, it should be important to use conceptual models aimed at understanding the transfer of gains across different domains beyond laboratory methodologies, such as school and work achievement (Crone and Ridderinkhof, 2011; DAngiulli et al., 2012; Goldin et al., 2014). Because the amygdala activates to threatening images, sexual images, donuts, and chrome rhinoceri, knowledge of amygdala activity alone does not necessarily mean the person was experiencing fear. Advances in technology over the past 20 years have given modern neuro-researchers tools of unprecedented power to probe the workings of the most complex machine in the universe (as far as we know). You may wonder why there are so many different psychological approaches and whether one approach is correct and another wrong. 2d 715 (N.Y. Crim. (2013a). I have participated in several of these cases in my early career and have seen enough to report that there is trouble afoot. doi: 10.1097/psy.0b013e3182a5f9c1, Gianaros, P. J., and Manuck, S. B. (2012). Neuroevidence may effectively generate hypotheses, but generally cannot answer them. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.5310-13.2014, Keywords: childhood poverty, social inequality, brain plasticity, interventions, policy making, Citation: Lipina SJ and Segretin MS (2015) Strengths and weakness of neuroscientific investigations of childhood poverty: future directions. Allostasis and the human brain: integrating models of stress from the social and life sciences. Presciently, in 2006 Morse identified signs of a cognitive pathology he labeled brain overclaim syndrome (BOS). Differential susceptibility to rearing environment depending on dopamine-related genes: new evidence and a meta-analysis. (2011). doi: 10.1017/S095457941000060X, Espinet, S. D., Anderson, J. E., and Zelazo, P. D. (2013). The aim of this section is to highlight the importance of a comprehensive approach to foster the integration of the conceptual models that have been generated in the studies of brain development and plasticity to help design a new generation of research methods and proposals in the study of childhood poverty from a neuroscientific perspective. Poverty and Brain Development during Childhood: An Approach from Cognitive Psychology and Neuroscience. weaknesses attention emotion learning / memory motivation perception too oriented towards micro-level considerations can lack specificity: nature vs nurture refers to practically every aspect/variable affecting human responses. In this context, it is necessary to take into consideration the structural, electrophysiological, and molecular changes in brain plasticity in terms of (a) how neural operations change after adverse experience; (b) the physiological and biochemical involvement of components related to connectivity between different neural networks; (c) how experience and neuropil transformations contribute to brain functional specialization; and (d) the role of epigenetics, sensitive periods and differential susceptibility in shaping neural networks (Hackman et al., 2010; DAngiulli et al., 2012; Hirase and Shinohara, 2014). (2010). Early neuroscientific studies in experimental animals analyzed how exposure to complex, standard or deprived environments can modify the brain. Although many conceptual and methodological issues should be explored, initial epigenetic findings support the notion that epigenetic changes underlie, at least partially, the long-term impact of early experiences, and that epigenetic alterations are potentially reversible or modifiable through pharmacological or behavioral intervention (Hensch, 2004). Considering the opportunities and setbacks mentioned in the previous two sections, we propose a set of main points that require reconsideration and optimized approaches. (2012). Acad. Despite these important advances, the neuroscientific study of human poverty, particularly child poverty, is a topic that has gained attention in the most recent decades. Neurosci. J. Neurosci. Sci. The idea that humans conduct mental processes on incoming information - i.e. In addition, a recent topic of interest in neuroscience addresses mechanisms of mediation of childhood poverty on cognitive development (Hackman et al., 2010; Noble et al., 2012; Lipina et al., 2013; Neville et al., 2013a), which allows the identification of potential targets for the design of interventions. Nutrition and the developing brain: nutrient priorities and measurement. Strengths and Weaknesses of Humanistic Theory.

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