ReviewNature reviews. Neuroscience2024
Causation in neuroscience: keeping mechanism meaningful.
Review in Nature reviews. Neuroscience, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 34 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
34 citing papers in PubMed, 67 citations in OpenAlex.
- From convergence insufficiency to functional reorganization: A longitudinal randomized controlled trial of treatment-induced connectivity plasticity.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2024Trial
- A standardized and reproducible behavioral framework to elicit multiple aspects of visual spatial attention in mice.Cell reports methods · 2026Article
- Causal Explanation from a Conceptual Engineering Perspective: Non-Reductionism, Precision, and Pluralism.Acta biotheoretica · 2026Article
- Generative AI as a transformational logic for cognitive neuroscience.Communications biology · 2026Review
- Opportunities and pitfalls of data contextualization in neuroimaging.Nature reviews. Neuroscience · 2026Review
- How to Foster Challenging Interdisciplinary Collaborations: Can Philosophy Support Neuroscientists?The European journal of neuroscience · 2026Review
- Reductionism in Engram Neuroscience.The European journal of neuroscience · 2026Review
- Nonparametric Causal Inference for Optogenetics: Sequential Excursion Effects for Dynamic Regimes.Journal of the American Statistical Association · 2026Article
- Frontotemporal network interactions causally support rapid concreteness judgments during reading.PLoS biology · 2026Article
- Digital twin brain reveals state-specific stimulation targets for abnormal brain dynamics in tinnitus.BMC medicine · 2026Article
- Organizational closure through regenerative signaling as a possible basis for conscious awareness.Frontiers in computational neuroscience · 2026Review
- Developmental frameworks, what have you done for me lately?Development and psychopathology · 2025Article
- Article
- Reconstructing brain causal dynamics for subject and task fingerprints using fMRI time-series data.Health information science and systems · 2025Article
- Psychedelics for Alcohol Use Disorder: A Narrative Review with Candidate Mechanisms of Action.CNS drugs · 2025Review
- An Exploratory Comparison of Alpha and Beta Network Connectivity Across Four Depression Subtypes.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- The Virtual Parkinsonian patient.NPJ systems biology and applications · 2025Article
- Mapping global brain reconfigurations following local targeted manipulations.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- From Efficacy to Effectiveness: Evaluating Psychedelic Randomized Controlled Trials for Trustworthy Evidence-Based Policy and Practice.Pharmacology research & perspectives · 2025Review
- Beyond Mechanism-Extending Our Concepts of Causation in Neuroscience.The European journal of neuroscience · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
A fundamental goal of research in neuroscience is to uncover the causal structure of the brain. This focus on causation makes sense, because causal information can provide explanations of brain function and identify reliable targets with which to understand cognitive function and prevent or change neurological conditions and psychiatric disorders. In this research, one of the most frequently used causal concepts is 'mechanism' - this is seen in the literature and language of the field, in grant and funding inquiries that specify what research is supported, and in journal guidelines on which contributions are considered for publication. In these contexts, mechanisms are commonly tied to expressions of the main aims of the field and cited as the 'fundamental', 'foundational' and/or 'basic' unit for understanding the brain. Despite its common usage and perceived importance, mechanism is used in different ways that are rarely distinguished. Given that this concept is defined in different ways throughout the field - and that there is often no clarification of which definition is intended - there remains a marked ambiguity about the fundamental goals, orientation and principles of the field. Here we provide an overview of causation and mechanism from the perspectives of neuroscience and philosophy of science, in order to address these challenges.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.