Culture: by the brain and in the brain?

Francisco Ortega,Fernando Vidal

doi:10.1590/s0104-59702016000400002

Abstract

Since the 1990s, several disciplines have emerged at the interface between neuroscience and the social and human sciences. For the most part, they aim at capturing the commonalities that underlay the heterogeneity of human behaviors and experiences. Neuroanthropology and cultural neuroscience, or the "neurodisciplines of culture," appear different, since their goal is to understand specificity rather than commonality and to address how cultural differences are inscribed in the brain. After offering an overview of these disciplines, and of their relation to endeavors such as cultural psychology and social neuroscience, this article discusses some of the most representative studies in the area in order to explore in which ways they are relevant for an understanding of culture.

Highlights

Desde a década de 1990, várias disciplinas surgiram na interface entre neurociência e as ciências sociais e humanas
The critiques usually refer to disciplines whose names, ranging from “neuroanthropology” to “neurotheology,” combine the prefix “neuro” with the name of a human or social science, or include “neuroscience” preceded by an adjective associated with one of those sciences: social neuroscience, affective neuroscience, or cultural neuroscience. (Littlefield, Johnson, 2012; Ortega, Vidal, 2011)
They are careful to emphasize their interest in the “interactions” of culture and brain, and in the brain’s “enculturation.” They offer an opportunity to examine how the notion of culture operates within a framework built to study transcultural neurobiological processes

Summary

Fernando Vidal

Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies; Centro de Historia de la Ciencia/Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Culture: by the brain and in the brain? Ciências, Saúde – Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, v.23, n.4, out.-dez. Culture: by the brain and in the brain? História, Ciências, Saúde – Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, v.23, n.4, out.-dez. 2016, p.965-983

Neurologizing culture

Investigative practices

From culture to brain