Integrating Cognitive Developmental Neuroscience in Society: Lessons Learned From a Multidisciplinary Research Project on Education and Social Safety of Youth

Integrating fundamental science in society, with the goal to translate research findings to daily practice, comes with certain challenges. Successfully integrating research projects into society requires (1) good collaboration between scientists and societal stakeholders, (2) collaboration partners with common expectations and goals, and (3) investment in clear communication. Here we describe an integrative research project conducted by a large Dutch consortium that consisted of neuroscientists, psychologists, sociologists, ethicists, teachers, health care professionals and policy makers, focusing on applying cognitive developmental neuroscience for the benefit of youth in education and social safety. We argue that to effectively integrate cognitive developmental neuroscience in society, (1) it is necessary to invest in a well-functioning, diverse and multidisciplinary team involving societal stakeholders and youth themselves from the start of the project. This aids to build a so-called productive interactive network that increases the chances to realize societal impact in the long-term. Additionally, we propose that to integrate knowledge, (2) a different than standard research approach should be taken. When focusing on integration, the ultimate goal of research is not solely to understand the world better, but also to intervene with real-life situations, such as education or (forensic) youth care. To accomplish this goal, we propose an approach in which integration is not only started after the research has been conducted, but taken into account throughout the entire project. This approach helps to create common expectations and goals between different stakeholders. Finally, we argue that (3) dedicating sufficient resources to effective communication, both within the consortium and between scientists and society, greatly benefits the integration of cognitive developmental neuroscience in society.

Reset Networks: Emergent Topography in Networks of Convolutional Neural Networks

We introduce Reset networks, which are compositions of several neural networks - typically several levels of CNNs - where possibly non-spatial outputs at one level are reshaped into spatial inputs for the next level. We demonstrate that Reset networks exhibit emergent topographic organization for numbers, as well as for visual categories taken from CIFAR-100. We outline the implications of this model for theories of the cortex and developmental neuroscience.

Place of neuroscience in Indian juvenile justice

Youths are important assets of a country. To realise the full potential of youth, the law is an instrument. Youth delinquency impedes his development. The response of the law is both a carrot and stick approach so far. While a host of disciplines try to understand youths, their behaviours, science, more particularly neuroscience, has its relevance. This paper makes an exploration of normative position and recent scientific advancement to understand a juvenile and his delinquency. The paper adopts the exploratory method on the status of values on juvenile justice in Constitutional and legislative norms in India and cognitive and developmental neuroscience. The paper concludes with a perspective on the scientific orientation of juvenile’s responsibility and reform.

A fejlődés-pszichofiziológia 30 éve Magyarországon (1990–2020)

A magyarországi fejlődés-pszichofiziológia három évtizedes történetét összefoglaló tanulmány a jelentősebb kutatások eredményeit négy főbb témacsoportban mutatja be. Ezek: a) a fejlődés-pszichofiziológiai módszerekkel végzett kutatások kezdetei, b) a nemzetközi kutatási kapcsolatok főbb területei, c) az eseményhez kötött agyi potenciálok módszerével végzett kutatások hazai főbb eredményei, valamint azok nemzetközi beágyazottsága és trendjei, d) a kognitív fejlődés-idegtudomány önálló területének kialakulása. Az áttekintésben hangsúlyosan jelenik meg a kutatási terület szerves kapcsolódása a pszichológia releváns ágaihoz (fejlődés-, kísérleti, kognitív pszichológia) és vizsgált életkori szakaszaihoz, beleértve a humán fejlődés fiziológiai módszereket alkalmazó pszichológiai kutatásának teljes vertikumát a tipikustól az atipikusig, a csecsemőkortól az öregedésig. The review summarizes the three-decades history of developmental psychophysiology in Hungary and presents the significant scientific achievements in four thematic domains. These are: a) the first years of research using developmental psychophysiological methods, b) the main areas of international research relations, c) the main results of research using event-related brain potentials, and their international relations and trends, d) the rise of a new independent field called cognitive developmental neuroscience. The review highlights the important links between the research area and the relevant branches of psychology (developmental, experimental, cognitive psychology) as well as the age range studied, including the entire continuum of psychological research on human development using physiological methods, from typical to atypical, and from infancy to aging.

Mechanisms of neuroplasticity linking early adversity to depression: developmental considerations

Early exposure to psychosocial adversity is among the most potent predictors of depression. Because depression commonly emerges prior to adulthood, we must consider the fundamental principles of developmental neuroscience when examining how experiences of childhood adversity, including abuse and neglect, can lead to depression. Considering that both the environment and the brain are highly dynamic across the period spanning gestation through adolescence, the purpose of this review is to discuss and integrate stress-based models of depression that center developmental processes. We offer a general framework for understanding how psychosocial adversity in early life disrupts or calibrates the biobehavioral systems implicated in depression. Specifically, we propose that the sources and nature of the environmental input shaping the brain, and the mechanisms of neuroplasticity involved, change across development. We contend that the effects of adversity largely depend on the developmental stage of the organism. First, we summarize leading neurobiological models that focus on the effects of adversity on risk for mental disorders, including depression. In particular, we highlight models of allostatic load, acceleration maturation, dimensions of adversity, and sensitive or critical periods. Second, we expound on and review evidence for the formulation that distinct mechanisms of neuroplasticity are implicated depending on the timing of adverse experiences, and that inherent within certain windows of development are constraints on the sources and nature of these experiences. Finally, we consider other important facets of adverse experiences (e.g., environmental unpredictability, perceptions of one’s experiences) before discussing promising research directions for the future of the field.

The Babytwins Study Sweden (BATSS): A Multi-Method Infant Twin Study of Genetic and Environmental Factors Influencing Infant Brain and Behavioral Development

Twin studies can help us understand the relative contributions of genes and environment to phenotypic trait variation, including attentional and brain activation measures. In terms of applying methodologies such as electroencephalography (EEG) and eye tracking, which are key methods in developmental neuroscience, infant twin studies are almost nonexistent. Here, we describe the Babytwins Study Sweden (BATSS), a multi-method longitudinal twin study of 177 MZ and 134 DZ twin pairs (i.e., 622 individual infants) covering the 5−36 month time period. The study includes EEG, eye tracking and genetics, together with more traditional measures based on in-person testing, direct observation and questionnaires. The results show that interest in participation in research among twin parents is high, despite the comprehensive protocol. DNA analysis from saliva samples was possible in virtually all participants, allowing for both zygosity confirmation and polygenic score analyses. Combining a longitudinal twin design with advanced technologies in developmental cognitive neuroscience and genomics, BATSS represents a new approach in infancy research, which we hope to have impact across multiple disciplines in the coming years.

A Developmental Framework for Embodiment Research: The Next Step Toward Integrating Concepts and Methods

Embodiment research is at a turning point. There is an increasing amount of data and studies investigating embodiment phenomena and their role in mental processing and functions from across a wide range of disciplines and theoretical schools within the life sciences. However, the integration of behavioral data with data from different biological levels is challenging for the involved research fields such as movement psychology, social and developmental neuroscience, computational psychosomatics, social and behavioral epigenetics, human-centered robotics, and many more. This highlights the need for an interdisciplinary framework of embodiment research. In addition, there is a growing need for a cross-disciplinary consensus on level-specific criteria of embodiment. We propose that a developmental perspective on embodiment is able to provide a framework for overcoming such pressing issues, providing analytical tools to link timescales and levels of embodiment specific to the function under study, uncovering the underlying developmental processes, clarifying level-specific embodiment criteria, and providing a matrix and platform to bridge disciplinary boundaries among the involved research fields.