Thread by @yael_niv

Thank you, @chazfirestone, for putting this out -- I uploaded at 1am, and woke up to, well, all of this. I am considering publishing on Twitter from now on :). No joke. Thanks all for the discussion, and positive vibes.

For those who want to know what the big deal is about: /1

https://twitter.com/chazfirestone/status/1319173668522643457

In the last 40+ years, behavioral research (psychology) has been seriously devalued compared to neuroscience research. Neuro programs barely teach behavior. "Behavior only" papers don't get sent out to review. Grant proposals are withdrawn prior to review. /2

I argue in this paper that this is wholly misguided. Most of the incredible things we have learned about the brain came from behavioral work (I detail cool examples in the paper). Neuroscience confirmed them. Or found out *where* they happen (not *that* they happen). /3

In a lab meeting years ago (where this paper was conceived) we had a really hard time thinking of discoveries in cognitive neuroscience that were really fueled by neuroscience.

What has the brain taught us about cognition?

Not much.
/4

This paper is a slightly edited rewrite of a chapter in "Current Controversies in Philosophy of Cognitive Science." The counterpart defending neuroscience is there, and I also have a section on that in my paper. Neuroscience is important, but...

/5
routledge.com/Current-Contro…

I truly feel that we are reneging on our promise to the taxpaying public funding our research, by assuming that we will only discover health-relevant stuff about the brain through neuroscience. Neuroscience without behavior is a lost cause.

/6

Finally, I make the point that a clever behavioral manipulation is a *causal manipulation* on the brain. So the idea that the only way to infer causality is through lesions/inactivations and the like is.. IMO.. wrong.

Go psychologists!

/7

If we stop funding behavioral research, developing behavioral paradigms, and teaching behavioral techniques, not only will we lose out on a lot of discoveries, we will also not be able to do useful neuroscience.

Neuroscience without behavior is a lost cause.

/fin