Neurodiversity and Brain Plasticity

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Tamari, Tomoko. 2022. 'Neurodiversity and Brain Plasticity'. In: British Sociological Association Medical Sociology Annual Conference 2022. Lancaster University, United Kingdom 14 - 16 September 2022. [Conference or Workshop Item]

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Official URL: https://www.britsoc.co.uk/groups/medical-sociology...

Abstract or Description

The paper discusses the brain as an interdisciplinary research topic which creates the opportunity to understand the significance of neurocultural intervention not only for contemporary medicine, but also for medical discourse.

The brain is plastic, as Catherine Malabou (2008) writes, ‘it designates suppleness, a faculty for adaptation, the ability to evolve.’ The plastic brain can be continuously modified itself and modify its environment. The environment here includes the biological, the social, the cultural and the political fields. Hence, the notion of plasticity challenges biological reductionism and neurological determinism and brings up the view of socio-political constructionism into the brain discourse. Recently, neurointelligence research has played an important role to better understand the discourse of the diversity and plasticity of the brain. Although this approach seeks to investigate the neural basis of cognitive development and intelligence, their analytical theory closely resonates with Malabou’s notion of the plastic brain. They examine how ‘the brain updates its internal models or alters the environment by active inference’ (Nagai 2021), in order to understand the neurodiversity of the brain, such as autistic brains. How complex information about the socio-cultural ‘environment’ can be translated into neurological mechanism is an open question. Exploring how brain plasticity works in neuroscience can still bring significant medical advances for understanding both physical brain damage, and those who have atypical information processing mechanism (e.g. autism spectrum disorder or ‘prodigious savants’). In this sense, understanding the neurodiversity of the brain embraces the diversity of the neuronal discourses.

Item Type:

Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)