Mixed reaction to new BRAIN initiative

Map­ping the mind—smart think­ing for brain health? (The Lancet):  “…Will the real­i­ty match the ambi­tion? Reac­tion has been mixed…Given that our brains change, learn, think, remem­ber, and are shaped by our expe­ri­ences, inter­ac­tions with oth­er peo­ple, and soci­ety, map­ping the elec­tri­cal spikes in the brain seems an over­ly restric­tive bio­med­ical approach to under­stand­ing the most com­plex organ in the human body. It is also doubt­ful that this approach will yield cures for con­di­tions such as Parkin­son’s dis­ease and Alzheimer’s dis­ease as purported…There are also non-bio­med­ical aspects of brain dis­or­ders that require urgent atten­tion. For exam­ple, access to psy­cho­log­i­cal treat­ments for depres­sion world­wide is woe­ful­ly inadequate…”

Relat­ed articles:

• Info­graph­ic: Brain Research through Advanc­ing Inno­v­a­tive Neurotechnologies
• From Anti-Alzheimer’s “Mag­ic Bul­lets” to True Brain Health