This page highlights two of our best examples of neuroanthropology, and also provides a selection of our “statement” pieces that discuss neuroanthropology in more general terms. No popularity contest here – we’re doing the scholarly thing.
One of the best places to start is with The Encultured Brain: Why Neuroanthropology? Why Now?, our 2009 conference statement which provides a comprehensive overview of this emerging field.
Craving
Main Pieces:
Studying Sin
Wanting to Craving: Understanding Compulsive Involvement with Drugs
Craving and Compulsive Involvement Scales
Further Reading:
Comfort Food and Social Stress
Tightening Your Belt on Your Mind
Craving Money, Chocolate… and Justice
Glucose, Self Control, and Evolution
The Sugar Made Me Do It
Experiments and Effort
Dopamine and Addiction – Part One
Dopamine and Eating
Addiction and Our Faultlines
Balance and Equilibrium
Main pieces:
Balance between cultures – equilibrium training
Equilibrium, modularity, and training the brain-body
Mirror neurons and imitative cultural learning
Further reading:
Children integrating their senses
Fall prevention in older people — Stephen Lord at HCSNet
Free Running and Extreme Balance
Trust your hand, not your eyes
Brainy muscles
Theory/Statement Pieces
The Cultural Brain in Five Flavors
Welcome to new readers: Why brain science needs anthropology
The Encultured Brain at the AAAs: Neuroanthropology and Interdisciplinary Engagement
The Everyday Brain and Our Everyday Life
How well do we know our brains?
Neuroscience on Out: The Forest and the Trees
Beyond Bourdieu’s body – Giving too much credit?
Wending between Faust and Wimsatt
How your brain is not like a computer
I just published a neuroanthropology book called “The Downside of Upright Posture – The Anatomical Causes of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Multiple Sclerosis.” The book is a true story about a chance investigation into the sutures and base of the human skull that stumbles upon a link between upright posture and neurodegenerative diseases. The link is in the upper cervical spine and base of the skull which contain key circulatory routes for blood and CSF flow. It started with the artificially deformed crania from Peru and Bolivia. The open state of their sutures caused a detour into hydrocephalus, which led to normal pressure hydrocephalus and the rest of the story. Neurodegenerative diseases are some of the most critical and costly conditions we face in the industrialized world today. Yet, despite decades and billions of dollars in research, we still don’t know what causes them. This book propose a brand new theory – upright posture. You can “look inside” the book on Amazon.com or on my website uprightdoc.com. Feel free to contact me with questions or comments.
what is the importance of anthropology in a society