Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T14:48:17.311Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Is “the brain” a helpful metaphor for neuroscience?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2019

Fred Keijzer*
Affiliation:
Department of Theoretical Philosophy, University of Groningen, 9712 GL/19Groningen, The Netherlands. [email protected]://www.rug.nl/staff/f.a.keijzer/index

Abstract

Brette criticizes the notion of neural coding as used in neuroscience as a way to clarify the causal structure of the brain. This criticism will be positioned in a wider range of findings and ideas from other branches of neuroscience and biology. While supporting Brette's critique, these findings also suggest the need for more radical changes in neuroscience than Brette envisions.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arendt, D. (2008) The evolution of cell types in animals: Emerging principles from molecular studies. Nature Reviews Genetics 9(11):868882.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bargmann, C. I. & Marder, E. (2013) From the connectome to brain function. Nature Methods 10(6):483.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Chiel, H. J. & Beer, R. D. (1997) The brain has a body: Adaptive behavior emerges from interactions of nervous system, body and environment. Trends in Neurosciences 20(12):553–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jékely, G., Keijzer, F.A. & Godfrey-Smith, P. (2015) An option space for early neural evolution. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences 370:201550181. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0181.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keijzer, F.A. (2015) Moving and sensing without input and output: Early nervous systems and the origins of the animal sensorimotor organization. Biology & Philosophy 30(3):311–31. doi: 10.1007/s10539-015-9483-1.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keijzer, F.A. & Arnellos, A. (2017) The animal sensorimotor organization: A challenge for the environmental complexity thesis. Biology & Philosophy 32(3):421–41. (doi:10.1007/s10539-017-9565-3).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keijzer, F. A., Van Duijn, M. & Lyon, P. (2013) What nervous systems do: Early evolution, input–output, and the Skin Brain Thesis. Adaptive Behavior 21(2):6784. doi: 10.1177/1059712312465330.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kristan, W. B. Jr. (2016) Early evolution of neurons. Current Biology 26(20):R949R954.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Levin, M. & Martyniuk, C. J. (2018) The bioelectric code: An ancient computational medium for dynamic control of growth and form. Biosystems 164:7693.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liu, H., Yang, W., Wu, T., Duan, F., Soucy, E., Jin, X. & Zhang, Y. (2018) Cholinergic sensorimotor integration regulates olfactory steering. Neuron 97(2):390405.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Marder, E. (2012) Neuromodulation of neuronal circuits: Back to the future. Neuron 76(1):111.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Sebé-Pedrós, A., Degnan, B. M. & Ruiz-Trillo, I. (2017). The origin of Metazoa: A unicellular perspective. Nature Reviews Genetics 18(8):498.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Turvey, M. T. & Fonseca, S. T. (2014) The medium of haptic perception: A tensegrity hypothesis. Journal of Motor Behavior 46(3):143–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tytell, E. D., Holmes, P. & Cohen, A. H. (2011) Spikes alone do not behavior make: Why neuroscience needs biomechanics. Current Opinion in Neurobiology 21(5):816–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar