How can intersecting ideas from different academic disciplines improve our understanding of the brain?

By Alex Shuper from Unsplash

By Akhilesh Potakamuri

Introduction:

The brain is something that many people mis-interpret. Unlike every other part of the body, the brain isn't a 1 and done organ. Simply put, the brain is a multi factuated organ that contains millions of jobs that are done every day.

Sarah Hall puts it best, The beauty of interdisciplinary conversation is that the mode of expression is essentially dif erent for each practitioner, even if ideas are shared.

For example, to understand the starry night by Vincent Van Gogh; you need to look not just at the “Starry Night” but also look at the meadows, the rivers, the tower, and the many intrusional features that revolve around the piece.

Neil Postman ties the bow as he says, All knowledge begins with a question. The only way to gain more knowledge is to ask questions from a different angle. And as Einstein continues, Trying the same thing over and over and expecting a dif erent result is the definition of insane.

The Role of NeuroScience and Psychology

Neuroscience takes a focus upon the stars, it avoids all other aspects of the painting and merely coerces itself upon the functions of the brain. Yet a one fit all approach simply denies a beautiful field of research the ability to be expanded into the basis of philosophy and other uncommon methods of inquiry.

Psychology looks only into the tower, the big thing on the left of the painting. This field of study focuses on the things that cause the functions of the brain. Kind of like the fuse that lights the match. Simply focusing on one part of the painting evidently throws away the rest of the painting. For there to be value in the pursuit of knowledge one must see every part of what they have chosen to study.

Interdisciplinary approaches to how we understand the brain and its many functions may bring forth a better understanding of the brain itself.

Contributions of Philosophy

While in a dream, the brain conjures an environment of thought. Where interactions or scenes are played through while you are asleep. Yet both Philosophers and Neurologists argue on the basis of how they are produced. Amongst the vigorous battles, a system that works for both philosophers and neurologists has been made. Called Emergentism. This suggests that mental states are emergent properties of complex neural networks built on a term qualia (Referring to both the physical and non-physical world).

Anthropology & Neuroanthropology

Anthropology is just a really insect sounding word for the study of humanity. However, Neuroanthropology is quite different in a sense that it refers to the effect of culture on the brain. As Nalini Ambady emphasizes, One of the most fundamental ways in which cultural beliefs, practices, and ideologies influence psychological processes is in the cognitive schema or self-construal style that people use to think about themselves and their relation to others. In the starry night, anthropology and neuroanthropology would both look into the rivers and streams found along the extravagant meadows.

The Brain & Physics

Most people associate the word Physics with the nuke for example. The science behind how it works and the shear calculations needed. So what does a society ending bomb have to do with the brain? The brain, like everything else that exists, is governed by the laws of physics. Meaning that even the weird quantum laws apply. However, a conscience is something that falls outside of the physics tyrannical rule. It is something that the mind simply does, you can’t choose not to have it.

But like every other researcher out there, people are trying to find some new idea that sounds cool. Today, researchers from China are investigating the implications of quantum entanglement in neural synchronization.

Final Thoughts

An interdisciplinary approach may yield initial success however, combining too many topics may simply form one single one. Instead of math, science, and engineering; today we have STEM. The continued broadening of retrospective study may cause a once complex world to become quite simple. As Albert Einstein puts best, Simplicity can both be beneficial and harmful; without balancing the simplicity of something we may fall into a world of both complexity and lucidity.