Social barriers to a theoretical neuroscience.
Social rather than scientific barriers are impeding neuroscience theory. There are plenty of experimental data and mathematical methods to develop a rigorous, mathematical theory in neuroscience. However, structural mathematical efforts are being suffocated by the requirement to produce numbers immediately. Also theoretical development is tied too closely to one experimental group. The social barriers can be addressed by: (1) judging theory by structural accuracy rather than numerical output; (2) recognizing mathematical theory (not just computational modeling) as a method for producing insight into neurobiological phenomena; (3) funding fundamental theoretical neuroscience and (4) recognizing theoretical neuroscientists as neuroscientists.
McCollum
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Neurological Sciences Institute, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland, OR 97209, USA.
D001290:Attitude; D003144:Communication Barriers; D006801:Humans; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009488:Neurosciences / Q000639:trends*