Neuronal Causes and Behavioural Effects: a Review on Logical, Methodological, and Technical Issues With Respect to Causal Explanations of Behaviour in Neuroscience

Fakhar, Kayson; Gonschorek, Dominic; Bielczyk, Natalia Z; Schmors, Lisa

doi:10.31234/osf.io/zk2dy

Preprint

FZJ-2020-00864

Neuronal Causes and Behavioural Effects: a Review on Logical, Methodological, and Technical Issues With Respect to Causal Explanations of Behaviour in Neuroscience

Fakhar, K. (Corresponding author)FZJ* ; Gonschorek, D. ; Schmors, L. ; Bielczyk, N. Z.

2019

[10.31234/osf.io/zk2dy]

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Please use a persistent id in citations: http://hdl.handle.net/2128/24253 doi:10.31234/osf.io/zk2dy

Abstract: Elucidating causal, neurobiological underpinnings of behaviour is an ultimate goal of every neuroscientific study. However, due to the complexity of the brain as well as the complexity of the human environment, finding a~causal architecture that underlies behaviour remains a~formidable challenge. In this manuscript, we review the logical and conceptual issues with respect to causal research in neuroscience.First, we review the state of the art interventional and computational approaches to infer causal brain-behaviour relationships. We provide an~overview of potential issues, flaws, and confounds in these studies. We conclude that studies on the causal structure underlying behaviour should be performed by accumulating evidence coming from several lines of experimental and modelling studies. Lastly, we also propose computational models including artificial neuronal networks and simulated animats as a~potential breakthrough to causal brain-behaviour investigations.

Note: K. Fakhar was employed at the FZJ throught the project SMARTSTART Computational Neuroscience, DB001423. Lisa Schmors and Dominic Gonschorek were supported by the same project, but not employed by the FZJ.

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Appears in the scientific report 2019

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