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CONCEPTUAL ORGANIZATION

Re-conceptualizing domains in neuroscience, hopes and utopias aside

Nature Neuroscience volume 24, pages 1643–1644 (2021)Cite this article

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Describing cognitive processes without reference to their neural underpinnings has led to conceptualizations that do not match how the brain functions. A data-driven re-examination of the neuroimaging literature reveals an alternate conceptual framework combining mind and brain that disrupts current neuroscientific thought.

In Jorge Luis Borges’ essay John Wilkins’ Analytical Language1, the author notes that “…obviously there is no classification of the universe that is not arbitrary and speculative. The reason is quite simple: we do not know what the universe is.” This captures well the problem of ontologies: the ways in which we decide to define the boundaries between things in the world, to break the world apart into logical chunks, reflect the limits of our current knowledge. These conceptualizations affect how we think and talk about the world, sometimes in confounding ways, and in neuroscience, this problem is becoming pressing (as noted in, for example, refs. 2,3,4).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Psychology Department, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Jessica A. Turner & Matthew D. Turner

  2. Neuroscience Institute, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Jessica A. Turner

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  1. Jessica A. Turner
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  2. Matthew D. Turner
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Correspondence to Jessica A. Turner.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Turner, J.A., Turner, M.D. Re-conceptualizing domains in neuroscience, hopes and utopias aside. Nat Neurosci 24, 1643–1644 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-021-00946-x

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