Abstract

SANTANA, Luiz Henrique  and  SEIXAS, Aline Maués F. de F.. Can psychology be a brain science?. Perspectivas [online]. 2012, vol.3, n.1, pp. 24-31. ISSN 2177-3548.

Reflecting on a brain psychology doesn't make sense without taking into account a set of practices more or less recent that surrounds the wide field of neurosciences. It's consonant in literature that the technological revolution on neuroimaging has been contributed to central nervous system exploration and in the treatment of issues related to clinical practice in neuro-psychology, for example. However, observation of theoretical-conceptual debates around the neurosciences hasn't demonstrated an equivalent development to what has been obtained in more applied branches of neuroscience research. The development of a polarized spectrum from theories distributed in both sides of classical dichotomy between globalism and localizationism has hindered the reconciliation of Experimental Analysis of Behavior and Neurosciences. However, the constitution of a functional behavior analysis may have its effectiveness greatly supplemented by the consideration of biological variables underlying it. This supplementarity between the behavior analyst's knowledge and neurosciences seems to lead to a necessary commitment of behavioral psychology with the biological research.

Keywords : behavioral explanation; neuroscience; reductionism; biological variables.

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