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NEUROANTHROPOLOGY AND ITS APPLICATIONS: AN INTRODUCTION
Author(s) -
Lende Daniel H.,
Downey Greg
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
annals of anthropological practice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.22
H-Index - 14
eISSN - 2153-9588
pISSN - 2153-957X
DOI - 10.1111/j.2153-9588.2012.01090.x
Subject(s) - citation , annals , library science , computer science , history , classics
Over the past two decades, the brain sciences have gone through a revolution in theories and methods for understanding neural function and its connections with human cognition, experience, and variation. Today the brain sciences grapple with questions of human development, cross-cultural difference, and neuroplasticity, and scientific thought about the brain plays an increasingly prominent role in public thinking about medical and social problems. In this context, anthropology faces new opportunities for interdisciplinary engagement and cross fertilization. Especially as brain scientists try to move from the lab to positions of advocacy and engagement, anthropological insight should be increasingly valuable to the enterprise, given our field’s tradition of cross-cultural research and its ability to analyze how neuroscientific knowledge plays out in society. Anthropologists can also draw on neuroscience to address problems that we face in the field and to develop novel applied approaches, even as we send new questions and important data back to imaging laboratories.25 page(s