Neuroscience Framework Research Articles

Understanding Conceptual Change and Science Learning through Educational Neuroscience

ABSTRACTAlthough the field of educational neuroscience has grown in recent years, little research has been conducted on conceptual change and science learning through an educational neuroscience framework. Educational neuroscience is frequently used to study processes of language and mathematics cognition, but is not extensively applied to conceptual change and science learning. This review integrates insights from extant conceptual change educational neuroscience studies to inform the fields of educational psychology and science education. These new insights shed light on the persistence of misconceptions and the roles of error detection, inhibition, executive function, and memory in conceptual change. Future directions for the study of conceptual change and educational neuroscience are discussed.

Financial Decision Making in The Framework of Neuroscience / Anthropology with Review to The Pandemic and Climate Change

The purpose of this paper is interdisciplinary research of combinations of different disciplines of (natural) anthropology/neuroscience of consciousness and quantum physics and (social sciences) of financial decision making in the context of climate change and pandemics, which can be useful for finding new information, solving complex problems. The aim of this study is to provide insights into financial decision-making through the intertwining of anthropology/neuroscience and quantum physics in financial decision-making within COVID 19 and climate change and what their relationship/outcomes are. Human consciousness has slipped towards the collapse of convergent crises. Namely, health and climate change are intertwined. The causes of the COVID 19 crisis and climate change are common and their effects are approaching. The climatic situation and COVID-19, a zoonotic disease, are subject to human activity that has led to environmental degradation. Neither the climate crisis nor the zoonotic pandemic was unexpected. They have led to the loss of life that could have been prevented by delayed, insufficient, or wrong actions. Financial decision-making requires harmonizing public health improvements, creating a sustainable economic future, and better protecting remaining natural resources and biodiversity Perhaps in this context financial simplification could be defined as the coexistence of all options with different degrees of potential that we will choose (it is a superposition), other options cease to exist for us when we enter the so-called zero of the desired option (the brain prepares our decisions). The results of the research showed us that COVID 19 and climate change have caused economic risks and uncertainties that have far-reaching and profound implications for financial decision-making as well as the financial services industry and its institutions. Extending tools through anthropology/neuroscience and quantum physics has given us knowledge of the need to connect both the natural and social sciences to understand the complex world around us. Keywords: Anthropology, Neuroscience, Quantum physics, Financial Decision Making.

A deep learning framework for neuroscience.

Systems neuroscience seeks explanations for how the brain implements a wide variety of perceptual, cognitive and motor tasks. Conversely, artificial intelligence attempts to design computational systems based on the tasks they will have to solve. In artificial neural networks, the three components specified by design are the objective functions, the learning rules and the architectures. With the growing success of deep learning, which utilizes brain-inspired architectures, these three designed components have increasingly become central to how we model, engineer and optimize complex artificial learning systems. Here we argue that a greater focus on these components would also benefit systems neuroscience. We give examples of how this optimization-based framework can drive theoretical and experimental progress in neuroscience. We contend that this principled perspective on systems neuroscience will help to generate more rapid progress.

Connecting levels of analysis in educational neuroscience: A review of multi-level structure of educational neuroscience with concrete examples.

In its origins educational neuroscience has started as an endeavor to discuss implications of neuroscience studies for education. However, it is now on its way to become a transdisciplinary field, incorporating findings, theoretical frameworks and methodologies from education, and cognitive and brain sciences. Given the differences and diversity in the originating disciplines, it has been a challenge for educational neuroscience to integrate both theoretical and methodological perspectives in education and neuroscience in a coherent way. We present a multi-level framework for educational neuroscience, which argues for integration of multiple levels of analysis, some originating in brain and cognitive sciences, others in education, as a roadmap for the future of educational neuroscience, with concrete examples in mathematical learning and moral education.

What’s Inside Your Head Once You’ve Figured Out What Your Head’s Inside Of

In this article, we investigate the foundations for a Gibsonian neuroscience. There is an increasingly influential current in neuroscience based on pragmatic and selectionist principles, which we think can contribute to ecological psychology. Starting from ecological psychology, we identify three basic constraints any Gibsonian neuroscience needs to adhere to: nonreconstructive perception, vicarious functioning, and selectionist self-organization. We discuss two previous attempts to integrate affordances with neuroscience: Reed’s ecological rendering of Edelman’s selectionism as well as Dreyfus’ phenomenological interpretation of Freeman’s neurodynamics. Reed and Dreyfus face the problem of how to account for “value.” We then show how the free-energy principle, an increasingly dominant framework in theoretical neuroscience, is rooted in both Freeman’s neurodynamics and Edelman’s selectionism. The free-energy principle accounts for value in terms of selective anticipation. The selection pressures at work on the agent shape its selective sensitivity to the relevant affordances in the environment. By being responsive to the relevant affordances in the environment, an agent comes to have grip on its interactions with the environment and can thrive in its ecological niche.

A Detailed Neuroscientific Framework for the Multiple Intelligences: Describing the Neural Components for Specific Skill Units within Each Intelligence

The concept of intelligence has been debated since introduction of IQ tests in the early 1900s. Numerous alternatives to unitary intelligence have achieved limited acceptance and IQ remains the predominant theoretical basis for schooling. Multiple intelligences theory (Gardner, 1983), despite criticism it lacks experimental validity, has had sustained interest by educators worldwide as a means of personalizing instruction and curriculum. The neuroscientific evidence for the intelligences has not been updated since 1983. This investigation reviewed 417 neuroscientific studies examining neural correlates for skill units within seven intelligences. Neural activation patterns demonstrate each skill unit has its own unique neural underpinnings as well as neural features shared with other skill units within its designated intelligence. These patterns of commonality and uniqueness provide richly detailed neural architectures in support of MI theory as a scientific model of human intelligence. This conclusion is supported by four previous studies revealing extensive neural evidence that MI theory distinguishes among ability groups and several cognitive qualities (Shearer and Karanian, 2017). The emerging field of educational cognitive neuroscience strives to bridge the gap between laboratory findings and classroom instruction. MI theory aligns with advances in understanding how the mind and brain interact providing a practical interface between the art of teaching and neuroscience. A neuroscientific model of the multiple intelligences brings us closer to the goal of personalizing education by understanding the unique neuro-cognitive profiles of all students. These findings, coupled with advanced technologies, point the way forward to bring MI-inspired education to all students.

On the Abilities of Unconscious Freudian Motivational Drives to Evoke Conscious Emotions.

Human beings use conscious emotions to direct their behaviors. There is some agreement in the scientific community that unconscious motivations are able to evoke conscious emotions. This manuscript focuses on Freudian motivational drives as inductors for unconscious motivation, and also on Panksepp’s framework of affective neuroscience for describing the generation of emotions. Recently, it has been suggested that imperative motor factors of Freudian drives (i.e., the hormones ghrelin, testosterone, angiotensin II and adenosine) have the ability to activate both a drive-specific brain area and brain areas of the SEEKING command system. In fact, this manuscript contends that all imperative motor factors have typical SEEKING targets (i.e., so-called receptors) in the brain areas of both nucleus accumbens and lateral hypothalamus. In addition, all imperative motor factors are able to target the central amygdala directly, a brain area classified by Panksepp as the instinctual part of the FEAR command system. Another point of interest may be the evaluation that imperative motor factors of the sexual drive, hunger and thirst can directly activate the RAGE command system by targeting the medial amygdala. Surprisingly, all imperative motor factors are able to modulate Panksepp’s granddaddy mechanism, i.e., to stimulate all seven command systems via the lateral hypothalamus. Orexinergic neurons exclusively located in the lateral hypothalamus have targets for imperative motor factors and project axons to characteristic brain areas of all seven command systems. From the fact that the imperative motor factors of the sexual drive and hunger act in an excitatory manner on orexinergic neurons whereas those of thirst and sleep inhibit such neurons, temporary termination of hunger by thirst may be understood as a very simple example of a co-regulation of Freudian drives. The author wishes to note that there are motivational drives other than the ones described by Freud. Bowlby was obviously the first in describing such drives, and Bowlbyian drive activities cannot be explained with the intermediacy of imperative motor factors. Nevertheless, the ignorance of the magnificent importance of imperative motor factors must be discarded.

Fighting the game. Command systems and player-avatar interaction in fighting games in a social cognitive neuroscience framework

Videogames often require players to control an avatar in order to act on the virtual world. In many cases, such as in fighting games, the avatar’s body often shares biological features with the player’s body, such as a human-like figure and a highly detailed and realistic movement. Many studies in social cognitive neuroscience focus on how humans understand biological actions, and in particular other humans’ actions. Models and theories that put in tight relation perception, imagination and execution of actions have recently impacted the field of human cognition and provided a considerable paradigm shift. However, the impact of these theories has been largely focused on modern mimetic interfaces, such as virtual reality, but only slightly affect traditional interfaces even if they still comprise the large majority of the human-computer interaction. Fighting games mostly use non-mimetic interfaces, such as traditional gaming pads, so that the player needs to act with a very restricted range of movements, limited to fingers, hand, wrists and arms muscles. While the player’s movements don’t match the avatar movements, the in-game meanings of the button presses, i.e., command system, may facilitate or interfere with the ability to understand, plan and perform motor patterns on the input device. Here I provide a framework to better understand human-fighting game interaction, but relevant for all interactions with avatars, as well as experimental evidence of this approach validity by using the most successful fighting games: Tekken, Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat and Soulcalibur.

The Inverse First Passage time method for a two dimensional Ornstein Uhlenbeck process with neuronal application.

The Inverse First Passage time problem seeks to determine the boundary corresponding to a given stochastic process and a fixed first passage time distribution. Here, we determine the numerical solution of this problem in the case of a two dimensional Gauss-Markov diffusion process. We investigate the boundary shape corresponding to Inverse Gaussian or Gamma first passage time distributions for different choices of the parameters, including heavy and light tails instances. Applications in neuroscience framework are illustrated.

Psychogenetic and psycho-physiological markers of cognitive abilities

This article is devoted to the actual problem of an integrative approach in the study of cognitive abilities using psychogenetic, psycho-physiological and psychometric methods. Modern studies of genetic markers of cognitive abilities are considered. The most significant achievements in the field of the recently appeared new direction of psychogenetics are noted. Scientific studies of the neurophysiological basis of abilities within the framework of cognitive neuroscience are also indicated. The results of modern studies of cognitive abilities, conducted using the methods of cognitive neuroscience, are considered. The results of recent psychogenetic studies of cognitive abilities, the limited predictive power of this research method, the complexity and systemic deficiencies of establishing genetic markers of cognitive abilities are reviewed. The conclusion about the promising use of the three-component “attention system” and the research of M. Pozner’s executive control is substantiated. The possibilities of electroencephalography (EEG) in combination with the tests of the Attention Network Task test to assess cognitive abilities were revealed. The necessity of combining the above methods to address the issues of early diagnosis of cognitive abilities is substantiated. The necessity of further detailed study of this problem on the basis of an integrative integrated approach is indicated. The idea of ​​combining psychogenetic studies, EEG methods in combination with the Attentional Network Task tests to assess executary control to establish markers of cognitive abilities is substantiated. According to the author, this approach will allow developing a system of science-based criteria for the effectiveness of human capital development programs. Keywords: markers of cognitive abilities, executive control, psychogenetics, electroencephalography

Dispositional negativity, cognition, and anxiety disorders: An integrative translational neuroscience framework.

When extreme, anxiety can become debilitating. Anxiety disorders, which often first emerge early in development, are common and challenging to treat, yet the underlying mechanisms have only recently begun to come into focus. Here, we review new insights into the nature and biological bases of dispositional negativity, a fundamental dimension of childhood temperament and adult personality and a prominent risk factor for the development of pediatric and adult anxiety disorders. Converging lines of epidemiological, neurobiological, and mechanistic evidence suggest that dispositional negativity increases the likelihood of psychopathology via specific neurocognitive mechanisms, including attentional biases to threat and deficits in executive control. Collectively, these observations provide an integrative translational framework for understanding the development and maintenance of anxiety disorders in adults and youth and set the stage for developing improved intervention strategies.

A framework for cognitive spaces

Neuroscience Ever since Tolman's proposal of cognitive maps in the 1940s, the question of how spatial representations support flexible behavior has been a contentious topic. Bellmund et al. review and combine concepts from cognitive science and philosophy with findings from neurophysiology of spatial navigation in rodents to propose a framework for cognitive neuroscience. They argue that spatial-processing principles in the hippocampalentorhinal region provide a geometric code to map information domains of cognitive spaces for high-level cognition and discuss recent evidence for this proposal. Science , this issue p. [eaat6766][1] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aat6766

Why We Still Use “Organic Causes”: Results From a Survey of Psychiatrists and Residents

The diagnostic category of "organic disorders" was officially removed from the psychiatric nosology in DSM-IV, published in 1994. Despite this change, physicians continue to use the term "organic causes" to refer to medical and neurological causes of psychiatric symptoms, and it remains part of the ICD-10 classification. In the context of increasing integration of psychiatric disorders within a medical and neuroscientific framework, the reasons behind the ongoing use of this term (reminiscent of mind-body dualism) have to be clarified. The authors conducted a survey of 391 Canadian psychiatrists and psychiatric residents to understand attitudes and beliefs related to this terminology and then applied qualitative and quantitative analyses. Results showed that the terminology is used by the majority (55.9%) of psychiatrists and residents for two main reasons: out of a habit that begins in residency training and because of the belief that other specialties do not fully understand alternative terminology. The authors found that some psychiatrists are concerned that their patients will not receive adequate investigation unless it is made clear through use of the "organic cause" term that other medical causes of psychiatric symptoms are suspected. Use of the "organic cause" term was predicted by being of younger age, performing emergency department calls, and finding alternative terminology difficult to use. These findings highlight the importance of reflecting on and discussing the effect of this terminology used in psychiatry.

A Translational Framework of Educational Neuroscience in Learning Disorders.

Neuroimaging has undergone enormous progress during the last two and a half decades. The combination of neuroscientific methods and educational practice has become a focus of interdisciplinary research in order to answer more applied questions. In this realm, conditions that hamper learning success and have deleterious effects in the population – such as learning disorders (LD) – could especially profit from neuroimaging findings. At the moment, however, there is an ongoing debate about how far neuroscientific research can go to inform the practical work in educational settings. Here, we put forward a theoretical translational framework as a method of conducting neuroimaging and bridging it to education, with a main focus on dyscalculia and dyslexia. Our work seeks to represent a theoretical but mainly empirical guide on the benefits of neuroimaging, which can help people working with different aspects of LD, who need to act collaboratively to reach the full potential of neuroimaging. We provide possible ideas regarding how neuroimaging can inform LD at different levels within our multidirectional framework, i.e., mechanisms, diagnosis/prognosis, training/intervention, and community/education. In addition, we discuss methodological, conceptual, and structural limitations that need to be addressed by future research.

Neuroimaging, neuromodulation, and population health: the neuroscience of chronic disease prevention.

Preventable chronic diseases are the leading cause of death in the majority of countries throughout the world, and this trend will continue for the foreseeable future. The potential to offset the social, economic, and personal burdens associated with such conditions depends on our ability to influence people's thought processes, decisions, and behaviors, all of which can be understood with reference to the brain itself. Within the health neuroscience framework, the brain can be viewed as a predictor, mediator, moderator, or outcome in relation to health‐related phenomena. This review explores examples of each of these, with specific reference to the primary prevention (i.e., prevention of initial onset) of chronic diseases. Within the topic of primary prevention, we touch on several cross‐cutting themes (persuasive communications, delay discounting of rewards, and self‐control), and place a special focus on obesity as a disorder influenced by both eating behavior and exercise habits.

An Integrative Neuroscience Framework for the Treatment of Chronic Pain: From Cellular Alterations to Behavior.

Chronic pain can result from many pain syndromes including complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), phantom limb pain and chronic low back pain, among others. On a molecular level, chronic pain syndromes arise from hypersensitization within the dorsal horn of the spinal cord, a process known as central sensitization. Central sensitization involves an upregulation of ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) similar to that of long-term potentiation (LTP). Regions of the brain in which LTP occurs, such as the amygdala and hippocampus, are implicated in fear- and memory-related brain circuity. Chronic pain dramatically influences patient quality of life. Individuals with chronic pain may develop pain-related anxiety and pain-related fear. The syndrome also alters functional connectivity in the default-mode network (DMN) and salience network. On a cellular/molecular level, central sensitization may be reversed through degradative glutamate receptor pathways. This, however, rarely happens. Instead, cortical brain regions may serve in a top-down regulatory capacity for the maintenance or alleviation of pain. Specifically, the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), which plays a critical role in fear-related brain circuits, the DMN, and salience network may be the driving forces in this process. On a cellular level, the mPFC may form new neural circuits through LTP that may cause extinction of pre-existing pain pathways found within fear-related brain circuits, the DMN, and salience network. In order to promote new LTP connections between the mPFC and other key brain structures, such as the amygdala and insula, we propose a holistic rehabilitation program including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and revolving around: (1) cognitive reappraisals; (2) mindfulness meditation; and (3) functional rehabilitation. Unlike current medical interventions focusing upon pain-relieving medications, we do not believe that chronic pain treatment should focus on reversing the effects of central sensitization. Instead, we propose here that it is critical to focus on non-invasive efforts to promote new neural circuits originating from the mPFC.

On the Drive Specificity of Freudian Drives for the Generation of SEEKING Activities: The Importance of the Underestimated Imperative Motor Factor.

Doubters of Freud’s theory of drives frequently mentioned that his approach is outdated and therefore cannot be useful for solving current problems in patients with mental disorders. At present, many scientists believe that affects rather than drives are of utmost importance for the emotional life and the theoretical framework of affective neuroscience, developed by Panksepp, strongly underpinned this view. Panksepp evaluated seven so-called command systems and the SEEKING system is therein of central importance. Panksepp used Pankseppian drives as inputs for the SEEKING system but noted the missing explanation of drive-specific generation of SEEKING activities in his description. Drive specificity requires dual action of the drive: the activation of a drive-specific brain area and the release of the neurotransmitter dopamine. Noticeably, as Freud claimed drive specificity too, it was here analyzed whether a Freudian drive can evoke the generation of drive-specific SEEKING activities. Special importance was addressed to the imperative motor factor in Freud’s drive theory because Panksepp’s formulations focused on neural pathways without specifying underlying neurotransmitter/endocrine factors impelling motor activity. As Panksepp claimed sleep as a Pankseppian drive, we firstly had to classified sleep as a Freudian drive by using three evaluated criteria for a Freudian drive. After that it was possible to identify the imperative motor factors of hunger, thirst, sex, and sleep. Most importantly, all of these imperative motor factors can both activate a drive-specific brain area and release dopamine from dopaminergic neurons, i.e., they can achieve the so-called drive specificity. Surprisingly, an impaired Freudian drive can alter via endocrinological pathways the concentration of the imperative motor factor of a second Freudian drive, obviously in some independence to the level of the metabolic deficit, thereby offering the possibility to modulate the generation of SEEKING activities of this second Freudian drive. This novel possibility might help to refine the general understanding of the action of Freudian drives. As only imperative motor factors of Freudian drives can guarantee drive specificity for the generation of SEEKING activities, the impact of Freud’s construct Eros (with its constituents hunger, thirst, sex, and sleep) should be revisited.

'Outlier Blindness': Efficient Coding Generates an Inability to Represent Extreme Values

How do people record information about the economic outcomes they observe in their environment? Building on a well-established neuroscientific framework, we propose a model in which people are not attuned to making distinctions between realized outcomes that they seldom expect to encounter. We provide evidence for such `outlier blindness' in a series of controlled laboratory experiments and discuss important implications of our model for economic decision-making. In particular, we show how outlier blindness provides a microfoundation for well-established empirical features of risk perception such as tail risk neglect and context-dependent risk attitude.

Infants born preterm, stress, and neurodevelopment in the neonatal intensive care unit: might music have an impact?

The neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) provides life-saving medical care for an increasing number of newborn infants each year. NICU care, while lifesaving, does have attendant consequences which can include repeated activation of the stress response and reduced maternal interaction, with possible negative long-term impacts on brain development. Here we present a neuroscientific framework for considering the impact of music on neurodevelopment in the NICU of infants born preterm and evaluate current literature on the use of music with this population to determine what is most reliably known of the physiological effects of music interventions. Using online academic databases we collected relevant, experimental studies aimed at determining effects of music listening in infants in the NICU. These articles were evaluated for methodological rigor, ranking the 10 most experimentally stringent as a representative sample. The selected literature seems to indicate that effects are present on the cardio-pulmonary system and behavior of neonates, although the relative effect size remains unclear. These findings indicate a need for more standardized longitudinal studies aimed at determining not only whether NICU music exposure has beneficial effects on the cardio-pulmonary system, but also on the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, brain structures, and cognitive behavioral status of these children as well. Provides a neuroscience framework for considering how music might attenuate stress in neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) infants. Considers how repeated stress may cause negative neurodevelopmental impacts in infants born preterm. Posits epigenetics can serve as a mechanistic pathway for music moderating the stress response.

Crash Testing an Engineering Framework in Neuroscience: Does the Idea of Robustness Break Down?

In this article, I discuss the concept of robustness in neuroscience. Various mechanisms for making systems robust have been discussed across biology and neuroscience (e.g., redundancy and fail-safes). Many of these notions originate from engineering. I argue that concepts borrowed from engineering aid neuroscientists in (1) operationalizing robustness, (2) formulating hypotheses about mechanisms for robustness, and (3) quantifying robustness. Furthermore, I argue that the significant disanalogies between brains and engineered artifacts raise important questions about the applicability of the engineering framework. I argue that the use of such concepts should be understood as a kind of simplifying idealization.