The study of the brain is one of the most important studies facing science today. Thanks to various technologies such as scanners that allow us to know what our brain is like and how it works, the Human Genome Project , the application of genetics in behaviour , incredible things have been discovered about that small organ of less than one and a half kilograms that we have in our heads.

Things we couldn’t discover until the “decade of the brain” began in the 1990s, which unleashed a wave of new sciences called cognitive psychology and neurosciences, including the one mentioned above. These are disciplines that are still valid and are revolutionizing all areas of our lives.

What are they and why approach the study of neurosciences?

The two greatest mysteries of nature are the mind and the universe.

-Michio Kaku

One of the latest emerging paradigms within the field of psychology is that of cognitive psychology . This was developed in three stages. The first was characterised by its institutionalisation, which lasted from its beginnings until the 1980s. In this phase the metaphor of the brain as a computer dominates. The second stage is that of connectionism in the 1980s; and the last was that of emotional cognitivism , within the framework of the so-called “decade of the brain”. The latter was also the bridge for the emergence of the neurosciences .

It is important to mention cognitivism because most of the neurosciences are based on human cognition (learning, memory, perception, etc.), a fact that gives rise to the appearance of cognitive neuroscience , which I will explain later.

History of neuroscience

The so-called “brain sciences” have their antecedents in the first locations of the cognitive functions of the brain, which occurred in the first years of the 19th century, the experimental psychology , the psychophysiology and to the great contribution of the computer sciences and in particular to the development of Artificial Intelligence, as well as in the incorporation of molecular genetics in the 1980s, although major pioneering incursions in the use of genetic approaches to the study of the brain and behaviour had already been made since the 1960s.

Within the context of genetics, another of the antecedents and tools of neuroscience was the Human Genome Project , whose importance is incalculable, since it allowed the recognition of the important role that genes play in the construction and coding of the brain.

In the words of Philip J. Corr , “the Human Genome Project has opened up a whole new perspective on the role of genetics in psychology”. And not only of psychology but of all sciences that interact and work with the brain, because as Robert Sapolsky, professor of biological sciences and neurology at Stanford University, once mentioned , we cannot talk about behavior (and I add, the brain) without taking biology into account.

Approaching a definition of neuroscience

As a formal definition (based on different readings), I would define neurosciences as the study of the biological bases of human behavior . I would now like to add another definition, that of Cognitive Neuroscience; defined by Carles as "the discipline that seeks to understand how brain function gives rise to mental activities, such as perception, memory, language and even consciousness". Despite its few years of existence, this discipline has experienced multiplication in its studies that, among its examples, include visual attention, vision, memory, and consciousness.

As a result of the so-called "decade of the brain" (although perhaps it is more appropriate to call it "the twentieth or century of the brain"), Cognitive Neuroscience and neurosciences in general have seen their branches of research flourish, thus extending to fields such as law, economics, psychology, gastronomy, etc. The rich variety of applications of the neurosciences is a symptom of the presence of these investigations in all areas of our lives.

Neurosciences have taken it upon themselves to explain how the mind works based on its biological condition rooted in the brain . Its importance lies in the fact that now, thanks to high-tech scanners designed by other branches of science, secrets of the brain have been revealed that make what was once part of science fiction; today it is part of formal science. We now know that it is necessary to know the brain in order to understand it and to design strategies to improve our behaviour and, thus, to solve the major public policy problems related to psychological problems .

Discovering how we think and feel

Similarly, neurosciences have allowed us to show ourselves as we are, as our being is bio-logical (I make this separation to suggest the relationship between our animal side and our rational side). Denying the function and responsibility of the brain in our behaviour is not going to change our condition at all.

Furthermore, discoveries about our brain have moral implications . As Steven Pinker says in The Clean Sheet , "the refusal to acknowledge human nature is like the shame that sex produced in Victorian society, and even worse: it distorts science and study, public discourse and everyday life". That is why we must support a science that is allowing us to know ourselves, to know how we are and why we are like this. And we must do it without fear and betting on improving our human condition in order to know our human condition, that is, to see our human nature with a human face.

Another reason why people, scientists and especially psychologists should approach the study of neurosciences is because this field of study is breaking down myths and is once again planting classic problems, but now with a more rigorous approach from the scientific point of view. One of those problems is the mind-brain relationship, this has stopped being "a monopoly of philosophy" (in words of Giménez-Amaya), to become a subject where multiple disciplines try to give it a solution, always taking into account the function of the brain.

These new sciences included in neuroscience are revolutionizing all aspects of daily life, for example, now public policies are made that take into account the brain in education, law, medicine, technologies . Countries like the United States of America have complete projects, similar to the Human Genome, related to the neurosciences.

Neuroscience as a Psychologist’s Tool: Let’s Understand the Machine Better

“The brain, whether we like it or not, is a machine. Scientists have come to that conclusion, not because they are mechanical killers, but because they have accumulated evidence that any aspect of consciousness can be linked to the brain.

-Steven Pinker

Of course, the organ we have inside the skull is so difficult to understand that so far it is considered practically the most complex object in the solar system. As Carl Jung put it: “In each of us there is another one we don’t know.

That whimsical little animal addicted to carbohydrates is the most complex material in the universe and that same little animal is the object of some disciplines such as neuroscience, which may well be a tool for others such as psychology. Neurosciences show us the biological side of the mind and brain, and in it lie some issues such as consciousness, cognition. The object of study of this discipline is responsible for our behaviors and other issues that psychology studies, and that is why it is important to use these tools that bring us closer to that biological part responsible for most of our behavior.

Our brain weighs one kilo two hundred grams and is composed of two types of cells: the neurons and the glia . All people are home to hundreds of billions of these microscopic bodies. And, as Eagleman says, “Each of these cells is as complicated as a city. And each of them contains the entire human genome and circulates billions of molecules in intricate economies.

Since the consolidation of the neurosciences, psychologists have undertaken the challenge of developing a psychology based on concrete and isolable biological data.

Conclusions and Contextualization

Neuroscience has had a long history of understanding the brain. For most of human history we have been unable to understand how the brain and mind work. The ancient Egyptians considered the brain a useless organ, Aristotle believed that the soul inhabited the heart, and others, like Descartes, believed that the soul entered the body through the tiny pineal gland. After the “decade of the brain” everything changed and we finally started, thanks to new technologies and discoveries, to really know the brain. What we did not learn in the whole history of mankind, after the nineties, we started to discover and learn, but we are hardly understanding and assimilating it.

However, there are still many people, in academia, culture and ordinary people, who refuse to recognize their nature and to accept the new ways of understanding ourselves, of understanding our brain, our machine . The denial and resistance of many people to the neurosciences is found in the belief that biology comes to strip us of our human condition, it would finish off our moral part and reduce us to no more than animals guided by our impulses and in that case things like rape, incest or murder could be justified.

But contrary to these beliefs are those that say scientists as well known as Steven Pinker or David Eagleman who propose that by showing human beings without fear what they are, they will be able to make real recovery programs, predict and control behaviors that could harm society and themselves. The refusal to recognize what happens in our machine will not help to give answers about what happens in it, and that can have a social cost.

Bibliographic references:

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  • Corr, P. J. (2008). Psychogenomics. In P. J. Corr, Psicología Biológica. Mcgrawhill.
  • Eagleman, D. (2013). There’s someone in my head, but it’s not me. In D. Eagleman, Incognito. The Secret Lives of the Brain (p. 9). Anagram.
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