Major Branches
Modern neuroscience education and research activities can be very roughly categorized into the following major branches, based on the subject and scale of the system in examination as well as distinct experimental or curricular approaches. Individual neuroscientists, however, often work on questions that span several distinct subfields.
| Branch | Description |
|---|---|
| Affective neuroscience | Affective neuroscience is the study of the neural mechanisms involved in emotion, typically through experimentation on animal models. |
| Behavioral neuroscience | Behavioral neuroscience (also known as biological psychology, biopsychology, or psychobiology) is the application of the principles of biology (viz., neurobiology) to the study of genetic, physiological, and developmental mechanisms of behavior in humans and non-human animals. |
| Cellular neuroscience | Cellular neuroscience is the study of neurons at a cellular level including morphology and physiological properties. |
| Clinical neuroscience | This consists of medical specialties such as neurology and psychiatry, as well as many allied health professions such as speech-language pathology. Neurology is the medical specialty that works with disorders of the nervous system. Psychiatry is the medical specialty that works with the disorders of the mind—which include various affective, behavioral, cognitive, and perceptual disorders. (Also see note below.) |
| Cognitive neuroscience | Cognitive neuroscience is the study of biological substrates underlying cognition with a specific focus on the neural substrates of mental processes. |
| Computational neuroscience | Computational neuroscience is the study of brain function in terms of the information processing properties of the structures that make up the nervous system. Computational neuroscience can also refer to the use of computer simulations and theoretical models to study the function of the nervous system. |
| Cultural neuroscience | Cultural neuroscience is the study of how cultural values, practices and beliefs shape and are shaped by the mind, brain and genes across multiple timescales. |
| Developmental neuroscience | Developmental neuroscience studies the processes that generate, shape, and reshape the nervous system and seeks to describe the cellular basis of neural development to address underlying mechanisms. |
| Evolutionary neuroscience | Evolutionary neuroscience is an interdisciplinary scientific research field that studies the evolution of nervous systems. |
| Molecular neuroscience | Molecular neuroscience is a branch of neuroscience that examines the biology of the nervous system with molecular biology, molecular genetics, protein chemistry, and related methodologies. |
| Neuroengineering | Neuroengineering is a discipline within biomedical engineering that uses engineering techniques to understand, repair, replace, or enhance neural systems. |
| Neuroimaging | Neuroimaging includes the use of various techniques to either directly or indirectly image the structure and function of the brain. |
| Neuroinformatics | Neuroinformatics is a discipline within bioinformatics that conducts the organization of neuroscience data and application of computational models and analytical tools. |
| Neurolinguistics | Neurolinguistics is the study of the neural mechanisms in the human brain that control the comprehension, production, and acquisition of language. |
| Neurophysiology | Neurophysiology is the study of the functioning of the nervous system, generally using physiological techniques that include measurement and stimulation with electrodes or optically with ion- or voltage-sensitive dyes or light-sensitive channels. |
| Paleoneurology | Paleoneurology is a field which combines techniques used in paleontology and archeology to study brain evolution, especially that of the human brain. |
| Social neuroscience | Social neuroscience is an interdisciplinary field devoted to understanding how biological systems implement social processes and behavior, and to using biological concepts and methods to inform and refine theories of social processes and behavior. |
| Systems neuroscience | Systems neuroscience is the study of the function of neural circuits and systems. |
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