The Importance of Sex Differences in Neural Mechanisms and Symptom Presentation

Effective treatments and timely diagnoses are important factors in managing mental health and neurodevelopmental disorders. Existing research has identified both physical differences in the brain and differences in symptom presentation that relate to sex. While studies that include both men and women have become far more common, much of our understanding of mental illnesses is based on studies that mainly had male participants. Continued research into these sex differences and their effects is crucial to improve treatment approaches. 

The article “Sex differences in the transcription of glutamate transporters in major depression and suicide” (Powers et al., 2020) examines how the expression of vesicular glutamate transporters (VGLUTs) and excitatory amino acid transporters (EAATs), differs between male and female subjects with major depressive disorder (MDD). Though the underlying mechanisms of MDD are not well understood, many studies have found evidence that the disorder varies between females and males. The results of this research also support the idea that there are significant differences. Through the analysis of glutamate transporter expression, it was found that EAAT2, VGLUT1, and VGLUT2 had increased levels of expression in the female subjects with MDD compared to the controls. Similarly, when examining the female MDD suicide group, expression was once again higher compared to the female controls. However, there was no significant difference found when comparing the MDD nonsuicide and suicide male groups to the male control. Based on this, the researchers concluded that abnormalities in the expression of glutamate transporters may contribute to why women are diagnosed with MDD more often than men and report more severe symptoms. This study demonstrates the importance of further research into sex differences and the potential for more effective treatments that target mechanisms specific to a patient’s sex. 

In addition to sex differences in the neural mechanisms underlying disorders, understanding how symptom presentation varies between men and women is also important. Research conducted by McDonnell et al. (2021) investigated what factors impact the age of diagnosis (AOD) and age of first concern (AOC) in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The importance of their research is illustrated by the impact of early identification and intervention, which can lead to more positive outcomes for people with ASD. The study included 365 children who already had a diagnosis of ASD and the data was analyzed for trends related to sex, cognitive ability, and other demographic factors. The results showed that although the age of first concern was similar between boys and girls, female participants had a later age of diagnosis, particularly if they also had a high verbal IQ. Since other demographic factors could not explain the differences between AOD in girls and boys, the researchers concluded that it is more difficult to identify autistic traits in females given the current diagnostic approaches. One theory that could explain the variation in symptom presentation is that girls are better at camouflaging their symptoms than boys. In addition to making it harder for clinicians to identify ASD, masking can have harmful effects. This study exposes the need for revision of diagnostic criteria, which are predominately based on male symptom presentation, to improve outcomes for girls with ASD.

The studies done by Powers et al. (2020) and McDonnell et al. (2021) both demonstrate that further research into sex differences in neurological illnesses is essential to effectively treat patients. Since both studies involved humans, many additional variables could not be controlled and may have influenced results. The findings of these experiments should be replicated to support their validity. Future studies investigating the effect of a patient's sex on their illness would be very beneficial for improving diagnostic criteria and treatment approaches. 

Sources: 

Christina G. McDonnell, Elizabeth A. DeLucia, Elizabeth P. Hayden, Melanie Penner, Kristina Curcin, Evdokia Anagnostou, Rob Nicolson, Elizabeth Kelley, Stelios Georgiades, Xudong Liu & Ryan A. Stevenson (2021) Sex Differences in Age of Diagnosis and First Concern among Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 50:5, 645-655, DOI: 10.1080/15374416.2020.1823850

Powers, B. E., Joyce, C., Kleinman, J. E., Hyde, T. M., Ajilore, O., Leow, A. D., & Sodhi, M. S. (2020). Sex differences in the transcription of glutamate transporters in major depression and suicide. Journal of Affective Disorders, 277, 244–252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.07.055

The effects of Neuro Law and improving our criminal justice system

 

The effects of Neuro Law and improving our criminal justice system

Neuroscience is one of the biggest growing fields in science. Neuroscientists look into the inner workings of the mind and through their research we can help treat different types of issues. These issues range from mental health diseases such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and major depressive disorders. Through this research, we can properly diagnose individuals dealing with these difficulties and find options to help them cope with these difficulties. Because of this neuroscience research has been used in many different fields besides science. One of those fields is law. Neuroscience and Law, often time referred to as neurolaw, has paved the way to helping fix our justice system in terms of better sentencing and better treatment for people dealing with mental health disorders. Though this may be the case there is still a lot of work that needs to be done to better our criminal justice system. This article goes into detail about how this link between the two fields can help better our criminal justice system.  

            To better understand how we can fix our criminal justice system we first must understand how neuroscience and law are linked. An article in the Journal of Neuroscience titled “Law and Neuroscience” by Owen D. Jones goes into detail about how neuroscience and law are connected. In the article, they explain that many legal officials such as lawyers and judges seek the aid of neuroscientists to answer questions such as “Is this person responsible for his behavior?”, and “How competent is this person”. More specifically they can help aid law by increasing juror confidence, calling into question or contradicting a case, identifying legally relevant facts, separating people into useful categories, illuminating decision pathways with information that may lead to more informed and less biased decisions, and improving law’s ability to estimate probabilities of future behavior. Overall this article helps the reader to understand the need for there to be a connection between neuroscience and law.            

            This can be seen in many different court cases and several news articles. One article in Times magazine written by Dr. Christine Montross, a professor of psychiatry at Brown University, calls into question the level of responsibility the criminal justice system has when tending to mental illness. In the article, Dr. Montross goes into detail about how she has witnessed the severe lack of care that is being given to people with mental health issues both in the prison system and in the number of resources that are being provided for these individuals. Policing is one of the biggest areas that needs to be reformed. During police arrest, it is required that the person remain obedient. However, people dealing with manic episodes may not be able to do so. Dr. Montross goes on to say “This misalignment between the expectation that people will follow commands and their medical inability to do so has the potential for disaster. Of the roughly 1,000 fatal shootings by police in 2018 approximately 25% of victims were mentally ill. People with mental illness are sixteen times more likely to be killed in a police encounter than people who are psychiatrically well” (Montross). This quote is very shocking because it shows that police must make the call when it comes to determining whether that person is mentally capable of being arrested and taken to jail, instead of a psychiatric facility. Often jail is one of the places where mentally ill patients end up because they have been wrongfully put into prisons instead of mental health facilities. Although it is the case that mentally ill patients need to be properly treated and facilitated there is an inability to due to the lack of funding that is being given to mental health care centers. The passing of acts such as the Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963 and the 2008 recession took away more than 5 billion dollars in funding for mental health services. This means that people don’t receive proper treatment and end up in the prison system.

            This article shows that there is a need for neuroscience when it comes to law enforcement and criminal justice. This article ties back to the 7 ways in which neuroscience can help in the legal field. With a better understanding of mental health, we are then able to make better decisions when it comes to sentencing and determine what is the correct facilitation for a person dealing with mental health issues. This article also calls for more action when it comes to providing the resources needed for the house people dealing with mental health issues. Through this research, we can improve our criminal justice system and further advance how we prioritize mental health.

References:

Jones, O. D., Marois, R., Farah, M. J., & Greely, H. T. (2013). Law and neuroscience. Journal of Neuroscience, 33(45), 17624-17630.

Montross, Christine. We Must Change How Our Criminal Justice System Treats People with Mental Illness, 2020, https://time.com/5876045/we-must-change-how-our-criminal-justice-system-treats-people-with-mental-illness/. Accessed 2023.

 

Intersection of Law and Neuroscience: Recent Research and Updates

 In 2013, Jones et al. discussed the growing intersection between neuroscientific evidence and its role in the justice system. They cited evidence from the United States v. Lorne Allan Semrau where fMRI was used to decide whether an individual's actions warranted criminal intent. In another case, Florida v. Grady Nelson, jurors considered whether an abnormal EEG should impact a defendant's sentencing. The article drew an interesting dichotomy between abnormal brain measurements and responsibility for a crime and whether individuals displaying these abnormalities should be treated for mental health deficits or sent to prison to serve their sentence. 

In 2023, an article published by the American Bar Association (ABA) published an article titled "The Pros and Cons of Neuroscience in the Legal System", and expanded on many ideas originally presented by the Jones et al article from 2013. The article focuses on five types of neuroscientific evidence including brain scans that may reveal neurological disorders, research that correlates neurological impairments in the frontal lobe to an increase in violent crimes, genetic factors that may influence one's likelihood to commit a crime, neuropsychological evidence regarding an individuals decision making and impairments in cognition to avoid the death penalty. 

Even after identifying these five types of neuroscientific evidence with the potential to impact criminal law, the ABA runs into similar issues cited in the 2013 Jones et al. article. Neuroscience, as a rapidly growing field is everchanging and advancements in neuroscientific imaging are occurring daily, making it difficult to standardize the type of neuroscientific evidence admissible in court. Both articles, however, stress the need for an interdisciplinary approach regarding neuroscience and law. Given difficulties in standardizing neuroscientific evidence, the ABA article acknowledges its potential when defendants suffer significant cognitive deficits. 

Continuing from dialogue originating from the Jones et al. paper, the American Bar Association highlights the role of neuroscientific evidence in determining an individual's cognitive capacity. Particularly in cases where individuals may be suffering from dementia or other disorders that affect cognitive function. This evidence may be essential to determine an individual's decision-making capabilities and ability to govern their own autonomy. Moreover, it may provide insights into guardianship and end-of-life care. However, conversations regarding guardianship often receive tremendous backlash for violating an individual's autonomy and raise many ethical concerns. On a more positive note, these individuals can be given better assistance when diagnosed with a neurological disorder to better ensure that people on their healthcare team, like doctors, nurses, and nursing home staff are putting the patient's best interest first. 

In conclusion, the ABA article continues critical conversation regarding the intersection of neuroscience and law originally discussed Jones et al. article from 2013. Both highlight the evolving landscape of neuroscientific evidence in the legal system, discuss the importance of continued conversations regarding ethical concerns, and stress a need for collaboration between legal and neuroscience communities to ensure a responsible and effective integration of neuroscience into the justice system.

References: 

Jones, Owen D. and Schall, Jeffrey D. and Shen, Francis X., Law and Neuroscience (August 19, 2020). Jones, Owen D. and Schall, Jeffrey D. and Shen, Francis X., LAW AND NEUROSCIENCE, 2nd Edition, ISBN 978-1-5438-0109-5, Forthcoming , Vanderbilt Law Research Paper No. 20-56, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3677088

The Pros and Cons of Neuroscience in the Legal System, www.americanbar.org/groups/law_aging/publications/bifocal/vol44/vol44issue5/prosandconsofneuroscience/. Accessed 14 Dec. 2023.

Influence of Glutamatergic System

In the research article titled Sex differences in the transcription of glutamate transporters in major depression and suicide Dr. Sodhi and colleagues emphasize the importance of understanding the mechanism behind glutamate transporters and their critical role in the brain by looking closer at its genetic expression given that mRNAs encode said glutamate transporters. The study recruited both females and males with a major depressive disorder (MMD) or MDD patients who had passed due to suicide. The findings of the study indicated that females with depressive disorder displayed a higher expression of excitatory amino acid transporters (EAATs) and vesicular glutamate transporter subtypes (VGLUT1 & VGLUT2) whereas EAAT expression was lower in the male violent suicides. This study proves to be a positive step toward the understanding of glutamate and its role in the brain.

 

Similarly, in the research article Glutamatergic system abnormalities in posttraumatic stress disorder by Dr. Nishi and colleagues, the study closely examines the role of the glutamatergic system and its impact on disorders like posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). With the use of 110 participants with PTSD and major depressive disorder (MMD), glutamate levels were recorded before and after 3 months. Their findings showed that glutamate levels are positively linked to the levels of PTSD severity but not with MDD severity. With this in mind, this unique neurotransmitter- Glutamate- plays a major role in the brain and livelihood of people.

 

Ultimately, both studies illustrate the importance of understanding glutamate and its influence on the brain in order to treat mental disorders like depression or PTSD. The scientific field continues to take big steps towards the prevention and treatment of mental disorders by aiming to comprehend the glutamatergic system and use its knowledge.

 

References: 

Nishi, D., Hashimoto, K., Noguchi, H., Hamazaki, K., Hamazaki, T., & Matsuoka, Y. (2015). Glutamatergic system abnormalities in posttraumatic stress disorder. Psychopharmacology, 232(23), 4261–4268. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-015-4052-5

Sexual Dimorphism in Psychiatric Illness: Who is More Susceptible?

    Anyone can develop psychiatric illnesses like depression and anxiety, but some individuals are genetically predisposed; there exists a gender disparity within the development of cognitive disorders, and women are more prone to doing so. The distinction can be attributed to biological differences in cellular signaling pathways and levels of gene expression in the brain, but also environmental and sociocultural factors.

    There are critical differences between males and females in their expression levels of genes encoding for proteins that associate with neurotransmitters, and these variations are evident in the differences observed in patients with depressive disorders. In “Sex differences in the transcription of glutamate transporters in major depression and suicide” by Sodhi et al., the glutamate system is investigated to figure out how it contributes to the biological basis of major depressive disorder (MDD) and suicide through acting on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Susceptibility to developing the disorder was found to indeed be sexually dimorphic, with mRNA expression levels of glutamate receptors and glutamate transporter genes in dorsolateral DLPFC being upregulated in females with MDD. Abnormalities in glutamate signaling can lead to cell death, thus explaining reduced glial and neuronal cells in the DLPFC of female MDD patients. This reduced number of cells would lead to lower activity levels in the DLPFC, causing issues in decision making and problem solving and issues in these cognitive functions could lead to greater susceptibility to suicide.

    Also discussing sexual dimorphisms in the brain, “Sexual Dimorphism in Brain Development: Influence on Affective Disorders” by López-Ojeda et al. emphasizes the significance of sex hormones and their effects on brain structure and function, as well as their roles in behavioral outputs like stress response. Environmental stimuli also serve to highlight differences in male versus female brain activation; positive stimuli for males and the counterpart negative stimuli for females generates higher levels of activity in the amygdala. Additionally, even in cases where males and females alike experience the same level of anxiety and/or stress, it is the behavioral differences in how they react to adverse stimuli that further distinguishes the gender disparity in mood disorders.

    Both articles discuss the role of sex differences in developing and managing cognitive disorders, with females being more susceptible to major depressive and mood disorders. These studies underscore the importance of creating therapies tailored to account not only these biological differences among males and females, but behavioral differences as well; the sociocultural impact on health and its role in the development of cognitive disorders is often overlooked.

López-Ojeda, Wilfredo, and Robin A. Hurley. “Sexual dimorphism in brain development: Influence on Affective Disorders.” The Journal of Neuropsychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, vol. 33, no. 2, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.neuropsych.20100269.

Powers, B., Joyce, C., Kleinman, J. E., Hyde, T. M., Ajilore, O., Leow, A., & Sodhi, M. S. (2020). Sex differences in the transcription of glutamate transporters in major depression and suicide. Journal of affective disorders, 277, 244–252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.07.055.

How our brain contributes to everyday tasks

 The concept of understanding our environment, functioning in spaces unfamiliar to us, and participating in tasks that we consider second nature is something that is being heavily researched currently. Simple tasks like shooting a basketball or remembering the location of your home are routine tasks are examples of everyday tasks. While humans and animals subconsciously participate in these tasks the reason we are able to do so is because the neural representations that occur in our brains. 

One of the neural representations represents our ability to do these everyday tasks. But the other neural representations focuses more on our hippocampus. In Hartley's article, "Space in the Brain": How the hippocampal formation supports spatial cognition. The author discusses how spatial parameters are restricted and have firing fields, which carry spatial information about the source of sensory information. 

Exploring The Roles of Both the Hippocampus and the Cerebellum in Spatial Cognition

          

The phrase "spatial cognition" has to do with the set of knowledge that one has about different properties of different objects in the world, such as where they are in space in relation to each other. Research over the past years has studied the cells in the hippocampus and their role in detailing an animal’s specific location in space. These findings can also be related to what is seen in humans. Research has also studied the connection and crosstalk between the hippocampus and the cerebellum, and how this relates to the role of both of these brain regions in spatial navigation and cognition.


The article titled “Space in the brain: how the hippocampal formation supports spatial cognition” discusses the specific type of spatial framework that has to do with being connected to the outside world, which relies on the hippocampus. The article outlines the fact that spatial navigation can play a role in learning and memory, which is greatly affected by the hippocampus. Specifically, the article discusses the CA3 region of the hippocampus, which is related to associative memory. Associative memory plays a role in spatial cognition by allowing for the storing and recovering of patterns of information, which is linked to pattern completion. Thus, the findings of this article suggest that this is what ties the hippocampus into playing a role in spatial cognition and navigation.


A similar article, “A liaison brought to light: cerebellum-hippocampus, partners for spatial cognition,” adds onto the role of the hippocampus in spatial cognition and extends this research further by also incorporating the role of the cerebellum in this process. The findings of this article suggest that the cerebellum optimizes navigation by playing a role in the neuronal code for space, and that the cerebellum and the hippocampus share many convergent pathways. For example, the hippocampus receives input from a cerebellar module called the caudal fastigial, which aids in goal-directed behavior.


Connecting the findings of both articles, both the hippocampus and the cerebellum appear to play a major role in the formation of spatial cognition. Thus, an implication of both articles’ findings could be that they may be used to inform certain therapeutic treatments that relate to physiology. For example, if someone was having trouble navigating through space or completing tasks that require a dependence on time, perhaps both hippocampal and cerebellar stimulation can help. Additionally, because implications of the articles’ findings may include therapeutic applications that relate to physiology, there may also be therapeutic implications in terms of treating physiological disorders, such as seizures. The findings of both articles also add to existing research that highlights the bidirectional functional connectivity between the hippocampus and the cerebellum. Because the hippocampus and cerebellum are in communication with one another, they can influence one another. Thus, an implication of the cross-communication between these two brain regions is that perhaps therapies involving hippocampal stimulation can help with some cerebellar disorders, and therapies involving cerebellar stimulation can help with some hippocampal disorders. For example, it would be interesting for future directions to study whether cerebellar stimulation can be used to treat Alzheimer’s Disease, which affects the hippocampus.


Hartley, T., Lever, C., Burgess, N., & O’Keefe, J. (2014). Space in the brain: how the hippocampal formation supports spatial cognition. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 369(1635), 20120510. http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0510.


Rondi-Reig, L., Paradis, A. L., & Fallahnezhad, M. (2022). A liaison brought to light: cerebellum-hippocampus, partners for spatial cognition. The Cerebellum, 21(5), 826–837. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12311-022-01422-3.

Glutamate, Psychadelics and MDD: Sex Differences and Novel Treatments for Major Depressive Disorder

     Major Depressive Disorder, or MDD, is a chronic, disabling condition that is unfortunately not very well understood. This lack of understanding is highlighted by the limited impact of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). This limited understanding of how the disorder develops is also combined with statistically significant sex differences that further limit our knowledge of the disorder. Limited knowledge combined with mediocre methods of treatment has therefore driven researchers to find more rapid, effective methods of treatment for those suffering from MDD. 

    Recent studies, specifically Powers et al., have focused not on serotonin, but on glutamate, the most common excitatory neurotransmitter in the body. One notable difference between females and males with MDD is glutamate transporter gene expression, specifically in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). Females with MDD have a significantly higher expression of glutamate transporters in this region of the brain, but gene expression of glutamate transporters in males remains the same. This abnormality could be a result of differences in autobiographical memory recall between males and females. Previous studies have suggested that deficits in autobiographical memory are present in females but not males, and that this is most likely do to cognitive differences in processing. Women particularly utilize circuitry in the DLPFC more than men for autobiographical memory processing, and for this reason autobiographical memory processing is significantly more impaired. Abnormal gene expression of glutamate transporters is generally present, but it differs between the sexes. Powers et al. proposed a mechanism in females that might explain these differences. Females experience the activation of estrogen in response to stress. Estrogen binds to Estrogen receptors, which then attach to estrogen response elements. These estrogen response elements are practically right next to the EAAT2 genes, therefore EREs may activate EAAT genes' expression in response to stress. This mechanism removes glutamate from the synapse lessening the excitotoxic apoptosis. It was generally suggested that EAAT1 and EAAT2, the EAAT genes, could have neuroprotective effects. Unsurprisingly, decreased expression of EAAT1 and EAAT2 were observed in males. Researchers concluded that EAAT1 and EAAT2 can have neuroprotective effects for both male and female patients, removing excess glutamate from the synapse and reducing excitotoxicity in the synapse, and addressing the decreased activity in the DLPFC that is associated with MDD.

    Benitah et al. 2022 reviewed studies that investigated ketamine as a potential treatment for MDD. Ketamine has a wide range of effects on the body, with one of the most well-documented mechanisms being the blockade of NMDARs (an ionotropic glutamate receptor), but overall the mechanisms of ketamine are not very well understood. In addition there were heterogenous usage of methods to study the clinical effects of ketamine, small sample sizes, and lack of research on sex differences specifically. The review also found that while most studies did not demonstrate any sex differences between males and females, some studies did find differences. In one of the studies reviewed, the general antidepressant effects did not differ between males and females, the magnitude of antidepressant effects was significantly different. Males with MDD that were treated with ketamine experienced a greater magnitude of antidepressant effects that females with MDD. The authors of this review, similar to Powers et al., state that this is most likely due to difference in hormone concentrations between males and females. 

    These sex differences and novel treatments have ushered in a new era of MDD research. There are a seemingly infinite number of directions to take with treatment and research. Hopefully this direction is beneficial and fruitful. 

References:

Benitah, K., Siegel, A., Lipsitz, O., Rodrigues, N. B., Meshkat, S., Lee, Y., Mansur, R. B., Nasri, F., Lui, L. M., McIntyre, R. S., & Rosenblat, J. D. (2022). Sex differences in ketamine’s therapeutic effects for mood disorders: A systematic review. Psychiatry Research, 312, 114579. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2022.114579

Powers, B. E., Joyce, C., Kleinman, J. E., Hyde, T. M., Ajilore, O., Leow, A. D., & Sodhi, M. S. (2020). Sex differences in the transcription of glutamate transporters in major depression and suicide. Journal of Affective Disorders, 277, 244–252. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2020.07.055

Decoding the Mind: Unraveling the Connection Between Spatial Cognition, Social Understanding, and Identity

     Neuroscience aims to explore every intricate process within our brain and their respective procedural qualities. The recent pioneering research challenges the correlation between spatial cognition, social understanding, and individual identity, providing revelations that could transform our grasp of these essential elements of the human experience. Spatial cognition refers to the mental processes that enable individuals to acquire, organize, remember, and utilize information about the spatial environment. It comprises a wide range of abilities and skills related to understanding the layout and organization of space, navigating through environments, and manipulating objects or understanding their spatial orientation. 

    In the scientific journal article "Space in the brain: how the hippocampal formation supports spatial cognition," authors Dr. Hartley, Dr. Lever, Dr. Burgess, and Dr. O'Keefe explore the science of spatial cognition, emphasizing the crucial role of the hippocampal formation. This study highlights how major spatial cells (place cells, head direction cells, grid cells, and boundary cells) play a vital role in encoding spatial parameters related to an animal's position and orientation. The paper outlines the hippocampal formation's anatomy and its central role in spatial cognition. Subcortical inputs and outputs impact on spatial representation and behavior is discussed throughout the paper. A significant portion of the study is dedicated to the phenomena of hippocampal replay and preplay, illustrating how the firing of place cells reconstructs an animal's location, supporting learning and memory consolidation. This research highlights the complex interplay of various spatial cells, emphasizing their collective contribution to our understanding of spatial behavior and memory in mammals.

    Likewise, the study "Where am I? Who am I? The Relation Between Spatial Cognition, Social Cognition, and Individual Differences in the Built Environment" by Dr. Proulx et al. talks about the relationship between spatial and social cognition and how they influence individual identity and behavior. This article focuses roles of egocentric and allocentric spatial reference frames in shaping our interactions with the environment and our sense of self. The study’s results suggest that our spatial orientation and navigation strategies, deeply intertwined with our social behaviors and cognitive processes, affect how we perceive and interact with the world and with others.

    When comparing the two, these studies demonstrate how spatial awareness, social engagement, and self-identity are deeply intertwined. Research like this is crucial in understanding the complex network of relationships that result in our actions, thoughts, and identities as we advance further into the human mind. They highlight the intricate nature of our thought processes and the extraordinary impact that our environment and relationships have on our identities.

Hartley, T., Lever, C., Burgess, N., & O’Keefe, J. (2014). Space in the brain: How the hippocampal formation supports spatial cognition. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 369(1635), 20120510. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0510

Proulx, M. J., Todorov, O. S., Taylor Aiken, A., & de Sousa, A. A. (2016). Where am I? who am I? the relation between spatial cognition, social cognition and individual differences in the built environment. Frontiers in Psychology, 7. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00064

Sweden "Won" the Pandemic, or Did They? How Social Distancing Manipulated the COVID-19 Response and How Big Data Analysts Tracked It

       In early March of 2023, the American dialogue surrounding the U.S.'s COVID-19 response veered into choppy waters, the issue at the helm: America "did too much." Opinion and science writer David Wallace-Wells, a best-selling essayist, reports that Sweden's contrarian and deliberately nonregulatory approach may have broached a new type of disease mitigation. Many on the American right view Sweden's libertarian response to be enlightened. However, did Sweden's pandemic public health policy allow them to "win" this global catastrophe, or do regulations and mandates tip the scales for the better? 

       Some Americans think that, like Sweden, the U.S. should have let things play out without mandates, stay-at-home orders, or social distancing. In response, Wallace-Wells emphasizes that the millions who died are not an afterthought. Their deaths are the result of U.S. public health policy. Yet, the question remains: what was the best way to respond to the pandemic? China is one extreme, reporting zero cases in Shanghai. Sweden was the other, allowing daily life to continue as it calculatedly remained open, attempting to reach herd immunity as fast as possible and limit the death toll. However, no country thus far has achieved herd immunity, whether on lockdown or completely open.

      Additionally, Wallace-Wells emphasizes that it is essential to understand that Sweden's libertarian answer to the pandemic's problems did not result in anything exceptional. Its data displays that the Swedish pandemic was average compared to its neighbors. Statistics Sweden's analysis of excess mortality rates claims the Swedish death toll was less per capita than all the other E.U. members. However, the data did not account for recent demographic trend lines and factors. More reliable and valid results from the W.H.O., The Economist, and Our World in Data display a different effect. The Economist states Sweden ranked 109th in excess mortality, while its neighbors like Denmark, Norway, and Iceland were 65th, 85th, and 53rd, respectively. Finland faired worse, ranking 145th, as did much of Europe. The U.S. was considerably lower ranked than all of these nations. Sweden's response did not result in extreme death rates nor the savior of thousands more people. 

      In the wake of these findings, Wallace-Wells speculates that social behavior and disease are more effective predictors of infection rates and death tolls than public policy and mandates. So, how did this play out? How did different nations abide by public health policy? George Thiruvathukal, a professor of computer science at Loyola University Chicago in cooperation with colleagues at Purdue, in the article "Observing Human Mobility Internationally During COVID-19," examines just that. The CAM2 Project at Purdue investigates visual data from cameras in the public domain to observe human mobility during the pandemic. The data gathered from the 67,000-camera network, as Thiruvathukal explains, can quantify the public's response to lockdown policy. 

      First things first, data must be collected. Cameras within the network are public cameras with footage readily available online from national parks or ski lodges. Data is collected from this footage once the analysts identify cameras in the public domain and their location is confirmed. The program Pedestron counts people in an image, and YOLOv3 counts vehicles. However, assessing whether groups are social distancing on low-resolution cameras can be challenging through this system. Instead, the analysis mainly focused on measuring mobility in general rather than assessing if they were standing a certain number of feet apart. Mobility was also examined through traffic patterns, which shifted dramatically during the pandemic. Data was tracked by counting the amount of pedestrians and vehicles in public spaces from April 2020 to March 2021.

         Data is collected from five European countries (Austria, France, Germany, Australia, and Italy) and three U.S. states (Georgia, Hawaii, and Oregon) due to their specific public health policies. Mobility data was then compared to public health policy in the form of a leniency curve. The data shows that countries that were more restrictive and had more people follow policy had more of a correlation between observed mobility and leniency. In contrast, regions with less stringent policies where people did not stay at home had flatter curves, less correlation, and more selective lockdown policies that were shorter. The data found that in European countries with extensive lockdowns, people adhered to the stay-at-home order, and as restrictions lifted, slowly, life became more social again. Therefore, mobility tracked over time changed dramatically. In countries like Australia and in states like Hawaii, they merely placed a travel restriction on visitors coming to their regions. Due to policy being more lenient and mobility less restrictive, people went about their daily lives. No significant shift was observed.  

          Human mobility was not clear-cut during the pandemic. Even from state to state in America, public health policy was distinct, and people engaged in different levels of social and public behavior. However, did social distancing and staying at home have an effect on the course of the disease? Would these nations have fared better if they all acted like the European countries with more stringent policies who ranked much higher than the U.S. on the Economist's excess mortality list? In an article assessing 25 studies about COVID-19 prevention from the Archives of Public Health, social distancing, stay-at-home orders, travel restrictions, and lockdowns all contributed to preventing the spread of COVID-19. Girum et al. stated that these measures reduced the median number of those infected by COVID-19 by 92%. Like those implemented in Australia and Hawaii, travel restrictions and lockdowns averted 70.5% of exported cases in China. Stay-at-home orders significantly decreased morbidity and fatality by 48.6% and 59.8%, respectively. They can be considerably effective if these strategies are implemented early enough and on a sizeable enough scale for enough time. Why, then, does it seem like Sweden got the results without doing the work? Wallace-Wells found that although Sweden did not have statewide mandates, they were given guidance and directives about social distancing and encouraged people to make responsible choices at the individual level rather than statewide. Swedes, especially during the first year, were more mobile, and their death rates were much higher than that of their neighbors who had stay-at-home mandates. Sweden did not "win" the pandemic, but it did find a way to encourage disease mitigation in a non-coercive way. We only knew which approach was most effective because of this mobility data. Big Data is essential for our knowledge about the world. Hopefully, we can continue to research it to formulate a more effective response to future global pandemics should they occur again.  

References:

Girum, T., Lentiro, K., Geremew, M., Migora, B., Shewamare, S., & Shimbre, M. S. (2021). Optimal strategies for COVID-19 prevention from global evidence achieved through social distancing, stay at home, travel restriction and lockdown: a systematic review. Archives of Public Health, 79(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-021-00663-8

Parlapiano, A., Badger, E., Miller, C  C., & Sanger-Katz, M. (2022, December 31). Readers sent us pandemic photos in 2020. Here is how their lives look now—the New York Times. https://www.nytimes.c m/interactive/2022/12/31/upshot/pandemic photos-then-and-now.html?searchResultPosition=14

Wallace-Wells, D. (2023, March 31). Opinion | How Did No-Mandate Sweden End Up With Such an Average Pandemic? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.c m/2023/03/30/opinion/sweden-pandemic-coronavirus.html?searchResultPositio =4

Sweden "Won" the Pandemic, or Did They? How Social Distancing Manipulated the COVID-19 Response and How Big Data Analysts Tracked It

        In early March of 2023, the American dialogue surrounding the U.S.'s COVID-19 response veered into choppy waters, the issue at the helm: America "did too much." Opinion and science writer David Wallace-Wells, a best-selling essayist, reports that Sweden's contrarian and deliberately nonregulatory approach may have broached a new type of disease mitigation. Many on the American right view Sweden's libertarian response to be enlightened. However, did Sweden's pandemic public health policy allow them to "win" this global catastrophe, or do regulations and mandates tip the scales for the better? 

       Some Americans think that, like Sweden, the U.S. should have let things play out without mandates, stay-at-home orders, or social distancing. In response, Wallace-Wells emphasizes that the millions who died are not an afterthought. Their deaths are the result of U.S. public health policy. Yet, the question remains: what was the best way to respond to the pandemic? China is one extreme, reporting zero cases in Shanghai. Sweden was the other, allowing daily life to continue as it calculatedly remained open, attempting to reach herd immunity as fast as possible and limit the death toll. However, no country thus far has achieved herd immunity, whether on lockdown or completely open.

       Additionally, Wallace-Wells emphasizes that it is essential to understand that Sweden's libertarian answer to the pandemic's problems did not result in anything exceptional. Its data displays that the Swedish pandemic was average compared to its neighbors. Statistics Sweden's analysis of excess mortality rates claims the Swedish death toll was less per capita than all the other E.U. members. However, the data did not account for recent demographic trend lines and factors. More reliable and valid results from the W.H.O., The Economist, and Our World in Data display a different effect. The Economist states Sweden ranked 109th in excess mortality, while its neighbors like Denmark, Norway, and Iceland were 65th, 85th, and 53rd, respectively. Finland faired worse, ranking 145th, as did much of Europe. The U.S. was considerably lower ranked than all of these nations. Sweden's response did not result in extreme death rates nor the savior of thousands more people. 

       In the wake of these findings, Wallace-Wells speculates that social behavior and disease are more effective predictors of infection rates and death tolls than public policy and mandates. So, how did this play out? How did different nations abide by public health policy? George Thiruvathukal, a professor of computer science at Loyola University Chicago in cooperation with colleagues at Purdue, in the article "Observing Human Mobility Internationally During COVID-19," examines just that. The CAM2 Project at Purdue investigates visual data from cameras in the public domain to observe human mobility during the pandemic. The data gathered from the 67,000-camera network, as Thiruvathukal explains, can quantify the public's response to lockdown policy. 

        First things first, data must be collected. Cameras within the network are public cameras with footage readily available online from national parks or ski lodges. Data is collected from this footage once the analysts identify cameras in the public domain and their location is confirmed. The program Pedestron counts people in an image, and YOLOv3 counts vehicles. However, assessing whether groups are social distancing on low-resolution cameras can be challenging through this system. Instead, the analysis mainly focused on measuring mobility in general rather than assessing if they were standing a certain number of feet apart. Mobility was also examined through traffic patterns, which shifted dramatically during the pandemic. Data was tracked by counting the amount of pedestrians and vehicles in public spaces from April 2020 to March 2021.

          Data is collected from five European countries (Austria, France, Germany, Australia, and Italy) and three U.S. states (Georgia, Hawaii, and Oregon) due to their specific public health policies. Mobility data was then compared to public health policy in the form of a leniency curve. The data shows that countries that were more restrictive and had more people follow policy had more of a correlation between observed mobility and leniency. In contrast, regions with less stringent policies where people did not stay at home had flatter curves, less correlation, and more selective lockdown policies that were shorter. The data found that in European countries with extensive lockdowns, people adhered to the stay-at-home order, and as restrictions lifted, slowly, life became more social again. Therefore, mobility tracked over time changed dramatically. In countries like Australia and in states like Hawaii, they merely placed a travel restriction on visitors coming to their regions. Due to policy being more lenient and mobility less restrictive, people went about their daily lives. No significant shift was observed.  

         Human mobility was not clear-cut during the pandemic. Even from state to state in America, public health policy was distinct, and people engaged in different levels of social and public behavior. However, did social distancing and staying at home have an effect on the course of the disease? Would these nations have fared better if they all acted like the European countries with more stringent policies who ranked much higher than the U.S. on the Economist's excess mortality list? In an article assessing 25 studies about COVID-19 prevention from the Archives of Public Health, social distancing, stay-at-home orders, travel restrictions, and lockdowns all contributed to preventing the spread of COVID-19. Girum et al. stated that these measures reduced the median number of those infected by COVID-19 by 92%. Like those implemented in Australia and Hawaii, travel restrictions and lockdowns averted 70.5% of exported cases in China. Stay-at-home orders significantly decreased morbidity and fatality by 48.6% and 59.8%, respectively. They can be considerably effective if these strategies are implemented early enough and on a sizeable enough scale for enough time. Why, then, does it seem like Sweden got the results without doing the work? Wallace-Wells found that although Sweden did not have statewide mandates, they were given guidance and directives about social distancing and encouraged people to make responsible choices at the individual level rather than statewide. Swedes, especially during the first year, were more mobile, and their death rates were much higher than that of their neighbors who had stay-at-home mandates. Sweden did not "win" the pandemic, but it did find a way to encourage disease mitigation in a non-coercive way. We only knew which approach was most effective because of this mobility data. Big Data is essential for our knowledge about the world. Hopefully, we can continue to research it to formulate a more effective response to future global pandemics should they occur again.  

References:

Girum, T., Lentiro, K., Geremew, M., Migora, B., Shewamare, S., & Shimbre, M. S. (2021). Optimal strategies for COVID-19 prevention from global evidence achieved through social distancing, stay at home, travel restriction and lockdown: a systematic review. Archives of Public Health, 79(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13690-021-00663-8

Parlapiano, A., Badger, E., Miller, C  C., & Sanger-Katz, M. (2022, December 31). Readers sent us pandemic photos in 2020. Here is how their lives look now—the New York Times. https://www.nytimes.c m/interactive/2022/12/31/upshot/pandemic photos-then-and-now.html?searchResultPosition=14

Wallace-Wells, D. (2023, March 31). Opinion | How Did No-Mandate Sweden End Up With Such an Average Pandemic? The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.c m/2023/03/30/opinion/sweden-pandemic-coronavirus.html?searchResultPositio =4

Neurolaw: Will it Become Necessary to Escalate to This?

      In the paper Intro to Neurolaw written by Jones et al, we see a new field begin to open up, one in which still has a lot of controversy surrounding it. When Katrina Sifferd came to speak about Neurolaw, there was a lot to be learned from the intersectional crossroads of these two very different areas of work, Neuroscience and Law. Neurolaw can be used to lighten sentences or completely exonerate individuals from their crimes, it can influence the law and Supreme Court decisions.  It has begun to pick up a lot of interest from surrounding parties in its use for its different uses in the realm of law.

    We see this in the review, where Jones et al states: “And in the recent case, Miller v Alabama, the United States Supreme Court referenced, in finding that mandatory sentences of life without the possibility of parole are unconstitutional for juvenile offenders, group-based brain science findings regarding impulse control, planning ahead, and risk avoidance” ( Jones et al). This also escalates to a much more serious matter, when we see that EEG’s and other brain scans are strong enough to help prison sentences. Jones et al tells: “And in Florida v. Grady Nelson, the defendant offered EEG evidence of brain function abnormalities in an effort to avoid being sentenced to death for the murder of which he'd been convicted. The court admitted the evidence, and the defendant was by a narrow margin sentenced instead to life in prison. Two jurors reported afterward that the brain evidence made the difference in their voting not to execute him.” If that is a good thing or not, can be debated later. Regardless, the evidence of brain imaging being used in court to help people is becoming very real and is no doubt going to continue to accelerate rapidly. There is a situation which college students are faced with now, that this could help in the future. 

    Sophia Ankel writes in Business Insider, how students are recently are facing a huge influx of false accusations of using ChatGPT and AI to write papers, do their homework and more. Whilst some may actually do this, many do not. Half of this Texas A+M class failed their class, had their diplomas put on hold and could not graduate due to falsely being accused of using AI. One student states: “…had never heard of ChatGPT herself and was baffled by the accusation, noting that “she feels even worse considering it’s something she knows nothing about.” She immediately “reached out to the dean and CC’d the president of the university,” DearKick alleges, but did not immediately receive assistance and went to plead her case with administrators in person on Tuesday. DearKick adds that Mumm allegedly flunked “several” whole classes in similar fashion.” (Ankel). Students, now more than ever, are faced with an impossible situation where their lives are filled with technology but it is also being used against them. 

    So could it come to a point where students will need to defend themselves with something stronger than their word? What happens when there is no proof of their hard work, just a AI system saying it thinks it found something? I think if things continue to go in the way they are, we will soon have a court case with a falsely accused student. AI and chat GPT are useful tools when used correctly, but can also have several implications that can lead to a lot of issues with school. I think NeuroLaw can and should be used in cases like these in the future, with fMRI testing. fMRI testing is in the works of being used as a lie detector using BOLD signals in the brain to determine truthfulness. However, fMRI testing still has long ways to go. According to Langleben and Moriarty in “Using Brain Imaging for Lie Detection: Where Science, Law, and Research Policy Collide. “In clinical development terms, the fMRI lie detector is stuck between Phase I and Phase II clinical trials, with the commercial start-ups lacking the capacity to proceed to Phase III—a common situation with compounds or devices of unclear commercial value”. So for now, students are still out of luck. They will continue to have to use Google Documents that time stamp their work or consistently save each draft of their essay in case something happens. I do see this beginning to happen in the future however, when fMRI gets to a point where it can be helpful, I think students will begin to turn to science to reveal the truth, when technology cannot. 

References

Ankel, Sophia. “A Texas Professor Failed More than Half of His Class after Chatgpt Falsely Claimed It Wrote Their Papers.” Business Insider, Business Insider, www.businessinsider.com/professor-fails-students-after-chatgpt-falsely-said-it-wrote-papers-2023-5. Accessed 13 Dec. 2023. 

Jones, Owen D., et al. “Law and neuroscience.” The Journal of Neuroscience, vol. 33, no. 45, 2013, pp. 17624–17630, https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.3254-13.2013. 

Langleben, Daniel D., and Jane Campbell Moriarty. “Using brain imaging for lie detection: Where science, law, and policy collide.” Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, vol. 19, no. 2, 2013, pp. 222–234, https://doi.org/10.1037/a0028841.

The Basics of Spatial Cognition and its role in Alzheimer’s Disease

         We often think about where we are physically, which direction we are facing, and the environment that’s surrounding us. Without even looking, we can discern how far away we are from the door which we just walked through or know where we left our charger plugged in just a few feet away. We can conjure a map in our minds and determine the distance of objects as well. How can we do that? The answer lies in the hippocampus and spatial cognition. The hippocampus is a crucial brain structure with many functions, notably in long-term memory and spatial navigation. Although important, however, the hippocampus is not the only player. A variety of cells, cortical regions, and even a couple structures play an important role. And damaging any of these can prove to have drastic consequences to spatial navigation, such as in Alzheimer’s disease.

 

                Spatial cognition is divided into two frameworks, one which is activated when you are reaching your hand out to pick up a pencil or throwing a softball to a person, and the other is activated when you are driving a jeep through an unknown savannah or running a marathon across a new town. The latter framework is focused on in the article by researchers Hartley, et al., titled, “Space in the brain: how the hippocampal formation supports spatial cognition.” It explores the allocentric spatial framework, which utilizes a distinct system in the hippocampus to form a long-lasting map or spatial representation of an individual’s current location in their environment, including other objects, structures, living beings, even things like hazards outside of and surrounding the person themself. Although the majority of the research referenced in the article was conducted on rodents such as mice and rats, evidence has also shown that this extends to humans as well, among other mammals. This fascinating system is called the hippocampal formation, and it consists of the hippocampus proper and the surrounding cortical regions that it connects to. One of these connections is to the medial septum and diagonal band of Broca, resulting in the theta oscillation, a significant component contributing to spatial representation among other functions. The researchers also outlined the four major types of spatial cells residing in the hippocampal formation and their most important properties. The four types of spatial cells are place cells, head direction cells, grid cells, and boundary cells with individually distinct firing patterns. Place cells typically fire at a low rate, which increases in its place field, portraying the animal’s physical location. Head direction cells depict direction irrespective of location in a world-centered point of view, with increased firing as the person or animal faces the preferred direction of the cell. Grid cells are like place cells, except they have many fields that they fire in. They consist of three characteristics: orientation, scale, and spatial phase. And lastly, boundary cells fire at a preferred distance of an environmental boundary with direction. Along with giving background information on the anatomy of the involved structures and cells, Hartley, et al. also explored some areas of current research, including in Alzheimer’s disease, and provided implications for future studies.

 

         Like a part of researchers Hartley, et al.’s article, the article by researchers Silva and Martinez titled, “Spatial memory deficits in Alzheimer’s disease and their connection to cognitive maps’ formation by place cells and grid cells,” gives an overview of cognitive maps and the key cells, primarily place cells and grid cells, and structures involved in cognitive map formation. Hartley, et al., briefly mentioned atrophy in the hippocampus, specifically in the hippocampal formation, being a distinct symptom in patients with progressing Alzheimer’s, and how the disease includes deficits in spatial navigation. But Silva and Martinez go a step further, expanding further on Alzheimer’s. According to them, Alzheimer’s disease is characterized as a multi-faceted disorder primarily affecting the hippocampus-entorhinal cortex (HP-EC). Patients affected by Alzheimer’s experience disruptions in spatial memory and navigation and have trouble forming their cognitive maps and remapping, among other symptoms. Like Hartley, et al.’s article, Silva and Martinez discuss the important role of place cells and grid cells in cognitive map formation. They affirm how the different types of cells in the hippocampus and the HP-EC circuit allow the cognitive map to form for navigation through the environment. Place cells and grid cells engage in remapping, which is a process through which representations specific to various places are created. Different environments cause place and grid cells to reorganize their activity, which is crucial to creating long-term memory of different spatial representations. In people with Alzheimer’s, this ability is impaired.

 

                Additionally, both articles highlight the importance of grid coding, and how it plays an important role in organizing information for spatial memory. Hartley et al. mention a theme of research focusing on the relationships between grid, head direction, and boundary cells in providing input to hippocampal neurons. Silva and Hartley expand on this to connect specifically to humans, talking about research of place cells, path cells, and grid-like activity in various brain structures. Both articles discuss the versatility of grid coding in spatial navigation, among other functions, that showcase how the HP-EC is a multifaceted structure complex. They also highlight implications for further research on the hippocampus, specifically in humans including patients living with Alzheimer's disease. Furthermore, they name a variety of techniques that can be used to conduct this research as well, such as optogenetics, human neuroimaging, and even virtual navigation in those with Alzheimer's specifically.

                Spatial cognition is a fascinating area of study that gives us insight and answers into how we are able to form cognitive maps and conjure an allocentric image of our surroundings and future path without much effort. Both articles by researchers Hartley et al. and Silva and Martinez offer immensely valuable information on the structures, cortical regions, and neurons involved in making spatial frameworks and cognitive maps a reality. They also highlight the role it plays in some important symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, and give suggestions on techniques that can be used for further research on this and relating topics.

References

 

Hartley, Tom, et al. “Space in the Brain: How the Hippocampal Formation Supports Spatial Cognition.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, vol. 369, no. 1635, 5 Feb. 2014, p. 20120510, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3866435/, https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2012.0510.

Silva, Azul, and María Cecilia Martínez. “Spatial Memory Deficits in Alzheimer’s Disease and Their Connection to Cognitive Maps’ Formation by Place Cells and Grid Cells.” Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, vol. 16, 12 Jan. 2023, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9878455/, https://doi.org/10.3389/fnbeh.2022.1082158.

Neuroscience in Law: Applications from the courtroom to the DMV

            As we learn more and more about how the human brain works, more and more questions come into play regarding an individual’s culpability for actions that may have been caused or influenced by a brain based medical condition. In an article titled “Law and Neuroscience” by Jones et al., published in 2013, the authors attempt to break down the important factors of what was at the time, and by some considerations still is, a budding field. Articles like this one began to open the conversation around law, neuroscience, their overlap, and the implications thereof, paving the way for expanded discussion such as what is seen in the 2019 article “Neuroimaging and Neurolaw: Drawing the Future of Aging” by Tigano et al. In this article, the researchers discuss the implication that improvement of understanding of the effects of aging on the brain and improvements in technology for brain scanning have on laws regarding legal capacity.

            The article “Law and Neuroscience” covers a lot of ground in the ways that Neuroscience may be beneficial towards our legal system, including but not limited to; buttressing, challenging other evidence, detection of legally relevant facts, providing criterion for who may respond to certain treatments, and predictions of future behaviors. While this article does largely focus on the effects of neuroscience on the judgement of criminal responsibility, it also breaks down several other applications. In the case of the judgement and prediction of future behaviors, the article suggests that the same neuroscience that allows us to better understand the effects and progression of diseases like Alzheimer's can give us an idea of who may or may not be diagnosed with this and similar diseases as well as an ability to predict age of onset.

            In the article by Tigano et al., the authors discuss the application of neuroscience within the context of age-related brain cognitive diseases (ABCDs) and legal capacities. This article takes a preventative approach to crime occurrences due to ABCDs by exploring possible testing that could be added to the process of renewal for licensing of risked behaviors such as the operation of a motor vehicle. The authors suggest that at a certain age, instead of declaring culpability and capability in a similar way to how such matters are applied to minors, part of reapplication for things like a driver’s license could include cognitive functional tests to prove sufficient capability. Results of such testing besides the potential revocation of a license could potentially include requirements similar to that of a learner (i.e. driving only within specific time periods and accompanied by another licensed driver).

            While both of these articles discuss possible applications of neuroscience in a legal sense, the two investigate different aspects of these cases. While the article by Jones et al. covers many ways that neuroscience can be applied once a case reaches the courtroom, the article by Tigano et al. covers ways that changes in the legal system for several processes could help to prevent the instances where cases like these occur in the courtroom in the first place. The differences in these niches of the overall topic of neurolaw truly speaks to the wide potential reach of neuroscience in the courtroom.     

 

References:

 

Jones, O. D., Marois, R., Farah, M. J., & Greely, H. T. (n.d.). Law and neuroscience. The Journal of neuroscience : the                 official journal of the Society for Neuroscience. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/24198354/ 

Tigano, V., Cascini, G. L., Sanchez-Castañeda, C., Péran, P., & Sabatini, U. (2019, April 8). Neuroimaging and                            neurolaw: Drawing the future of Aging. Frontiers in endocrinology.                                                                                  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6463811/