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CULTURAL NEUROSCIENCE: A UNIFYING FRAMEWORK FOR BRIDGING THE CULTURAL AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

Joan Y. Chiao, PhD
Assistant Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychology and Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program
Northwestern University
Evanston, IL, USA

The study of culture and biology have historically been stratified, however, recent theoretical and methodological advances in cultural and biological sciences provide novel opportunities for understanding the nature and origin of human diversity by bridging these gaps. Cultural neuroscience is an emerging interdisciplinary science that investigates cultural variation in psychological, neural and genomic processes as a means of articulating the bidirectional relationship of these processes and their emergent properties. Here I will discuss how cultural and genetic diversity affect mind, brain and behavior across multiple timescales and the implications of cultural neuroscience research for clinical relevance, treatment, and research. Specifically, this workshop will review the effect of cultural values, practices and beliefs, including racial identification and socioeconomic status, on brain and behavior that are relevant for neuropsychological practice.  First, the basis for the theoretical framework for cultural neuroscience will be presented, with a particular focus on neural underpinnings of culture.  Next, the workshop will examine ramifications of cultural neuroscience for clinical practice, including ways in which deficits across neuropsychological domains are affected by race, culture and social status, and specifically how these factors alter risk or resilience for neuropsychological conditions. By the end of the workshop, participants will (1) be able to describe at least three types of cultural influences on brain function and their neuroanatomic substrates, (2) be aware of clinical conditions that vary across populations and why, and (3) understand specific mechanisms underlying how and why neurocognitive abilities and cognitive test performance are affected race, culture and social status across psychological domains.