Neurosciences has quickly progressed into a much larger sphere with regards to how the brain works and discoveries which have a number of advantages. Brain research has come a long way with regards to ways in which the public are benefitted and filled with new and interesting knowledge which help one understand the development of the brain and how we interact as humans in our daily lives. In this paper the subject of cultural neuroscience will be intricately explained and how it was a major development and played a significant role in the understanding of the brain.
A crucial discovery and success with regards to the brain, was the introduction of successful non-invasive neuroscience methodologies which includes the functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) as well as even-related potentials. These imagining procedures have allowed neuroscientists to perform a number of tests regarding the cultural impact on the functioning of the brain, as well as the relations to behavior, including the way one thinks, feels and behaves.
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Cultural neuroscience surfaced from the questionable compatibility of neuroscience and cultural psychology. Cultural neuroscience in a simpler manner can be expressed as a demonstration of that the brain simply absorbs and reflects its cultural surroundings (Bunn, 2011). It focuses on the study that genetic and cultural factors interact, both separately and together affecting one’s mind and behavior. When we are to analyze one, there are two approaches to be taken in understanding people. Culture is naturally stored in the brain and the human brain is naturally constructed to acquire culture (Ames, Fiske, 2010). The brain is thus capable to coordinate the thoughts and behaviors of a person in different social settings which has aided the evolutionary survival of human beings. Thus, both the brain and culture working as an antagonistic pair. Over time, the brain itself has uniquely and greatly evolved to attain basic cultural capacities of those including language and mortality (Ames, Fiske, 2010), thus drawing on the fact that without the neurobiological capabilities culture itself would not exist.
A study was taken on perception, which is the basic cognitive process. This study was able to identity a controversial and interesting development. The research was done on two people, an American (Western culture) and a Singaporean (Eastern culture). Through the process of neuroimaging, the study was able to reveal that of the response to adaptation. The adaptations occurred in the hippocampal gyrus (the grey matter in the brain which surrounds the hippocampus), as well as in the lateral occipital cortex. This study was able to show the great influence that culture has on the brain with regards to the perceptual styles of the Western and Eastern cultures. While the Western culture identifies as an individualistic fashion, making use of trait adjectives and the Eastern cultures identifies as a more collectivistic fashion, referring rather to situational roles. Another unique feature that be identified of that of Western culture is the reduction of personality to neurology.
It is vital to compensate that cultural influences can have a great effect on the rates of mental diseases, including: depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder. These diseases effect the functioning of the brain, thus leading to a disadvantage in general wealth of one’s life. In approaching this, it is extremely important to note the science in these specific disorders may be affected drastically by the culture that one is surrounded by. By highly regarding the culture, it enables an easier medical diagnosis while a patient might still be in the early time period.
In cultural neuroscience one is able to identify the leading factors that play a great role in this sphere of science and outcomes reached through assessing such factors. We are now able to identify that factors such as one’s ambitions, anxieties, as well as abilities can now be rooted in terms of the cortical regions in the brain, neural pathways, as well as neurotransmitters. Thus, concluding that cultural neuroscience has changed the face of our cultural aspects, as well as problems arising from these cultural aspects.
Not only has cultural neuroscience been a great significance with regards to understanding the brain and developing, but also with the help of new neuro features such as neurasthenics, neuroeducation and social neuroscience. These three new neural aspects have aided in the understanding of the engagement in our neural biological correlates, namely art, education and our social behavior.
Cultural neuroscience research has aided in revealing aspects such a difference in the brain structure of a person, as well as identifying culturally based differences in one’s behavior. Cultural neuroscience has made a phenomenal movement towards the understanding of the brain and made a significant discovery that culture variation is functionally specialized in neural mechanisms. This can be derived from the fact that the social transmission of specific cultural values, beliefs and practices have led to the modification of low-level sensory systems.
In conclusion, I believe that cultural neuroscience plays a significant role in the development of the brain. It allows one to look deeper into how our brain and structured with regards to our cultural settings and backgrounds. Through cultural neuroscience we have been able to not only discover our perceptual style differences, but also how important it is with regards to the general health of our brain in staying aware that our cultural can affect the wealth of our brain and its processes. Through cultural neuroscience we have been able to erode the long-standing philosophical reasoning behind the conflict between various platforms such as the ‘nature versus nurture’, ‘thinking versus feeling’ and ‘mind versus body’ debates. These platforms have all been solved by making use of the non-invasive imaging techniques and performing studies on various groups of people. Through this neuro-imaging evidence it demonstrates that culture aids in the neurology of the self-understanding.
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