Lesion Studies in Contemporary Neuroscience
Purpose and Audience
The purpose of this article is to share the research findings and discussion on the new methodological developments of Lesion studies. The audience is those who have access to the paper and those who are interested in the research developments within biological psychology, namely, students, professors and researchers. It is a scholarly research paper published online in a scientific journal.
Findings and Implications
According to the article, numerous basic hypotheses in cognitive and behavioral neuroscience have been fundamentally supported by lesion investigations. Lesion work in human and nonhuman monkey lesion investigations provides significant inferential advantages over transient interventions and correlative measurements of brain activity (Vaidya et al., 2019). New methodological advances are broadening the variety of problems that may be examined in investigations of individuals with brain lesions (Vaidya et al., 2019). Lesion investigations are an essential link between fundamental research and behavior in the clinic and in the real world (Vaidya et al., 2019). The article implies that for the future of neuroscience, it will be vital to test hypotheses with many lines of evidence utilizing various methods, such as lesion studies, manipulations of brain activity, and correlations with neural activity.
Early Risk Detection and Targeted Treatment
Purpose and Audience
The purpose of this article is to share the recent development on the treatment of depression. The audience is a general population and those who are interested in the news within the field. It is a news release published online on the reputable Spanish daily newspaper called El País.
Findings and Implications
The study shares developments made by various companies which target to prevent early signs of depression and provide necessary treatment for those who are affected by the disorder. The article proposes WARN-D, an initiative to develop a trustworthy early-warning system in the form of a smartphone app that can track a user’s mental health in real time and combine that data with what is known about the user’s social, psychological, and biological history (D’Alessio, 2023). In addition, the RxMine project is discussed; this initiative employs a “brain in a dish” concept to determine the most effective antidepressant for each individual patient (D’Alessio, 2023). This model takes into account the potential of neural networks constructed from human brain stem cells derived in the lab from peripheral blood (D’Alessio, 2023). The paper suggests that in the not-too-distant future, depression may be easier to diagnose and treat.
References
Vaidya, A. R., Pujara, M. S., Petrides, M., Murray, E. A., & Fellows, L. K. (2019). Lesion studies in contemporary neuroscience. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 23(8), 653–671. Web.
D’Alessio, V. (2023). Early risk detection and targeted treatment: Science seeks new ways to combat depression. EL PAÍS English Edition. Web.