How do I start learning neuroscience from scratch? originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world.
Answer by Mariano Sigman, Founder of the Integrative Neuroscience Laboratory of UBA, author of The Secret Life of the Mind: How Your Brain Thinks, Feels, and Decides, on Quora:
Neuroscience, like many modern disciplines, is highly interdisciplinary. It connects of course to biology (because the brain is a biological organ), it connects to psychology (because the brain produces thought and feelings), it connects to computer science (because the brain implements algorithms to solve problems), it connects to philosophy (because we are quite unsure of what are consciousness or the mind, or free will or many other terms which we use without concrete grounding), it connects to physics and mathematics (because we need to build models and theories to understand such a complex organ), it connects to medicine (because psychiatry and neurology have been one of the primary sources to understand the brain), and the list goes on and on…
How to embark such an ample discipline is a complex issue and to a great deal, I think, a question of taste and preferences. In my view you should think about which of all these elements was the one that connected you to neuroscience, and pursue it. And not forget it. I have seen many colleagues that embarked on learning neuroscience because they were interested in dreams, or in how memory works, and ended up having a career (often brilliant) based on how a protein phosphorylates. Or conversely, some that had a drive for understanding how biology solves some aspects of cognition and end up –mostly for pragmatic reasons - losing contact with biology.
I began studying physics. I liked applied math, I liked numbers, I liked abstract thought (like chess)… Then I began working on more computational neuroscience and from there on I realized that the questions of experimental psychology fascinated me more than exactly how this was implemented in the brain. This has been my path.
In my view, neuroscience is too broad to have a general neuroscience education as an undergraduate. I think it might be better to approach from one of these disciplines (biology, computer science, physics, math, medicine…) and then from there move to a more specialized education, always keeping in mind the drive that brought you to this field.
This is all for a more academic or formal training in neuroscience. For a more informal education, there are many resources available. Books, talks… One thing I would recommend is to avoid the temptation of taking easy promises and remain always skeptical. This speaks to the essence of science, and hence to the essence of neuroscience. I mention this because neuroscience lately has become so trendy all over the world and used from a mostly marketing perspective to refer to all sort of fields: innovation, leadership, etc. and appended to virtually all disciplines; neuroeducation, neuroplasticity, neuro-magic, neuro-economy, neuro-gastronomy, etc. which has been quite confusing, especially for those aiming to understand it. Just remaining the clear etymology of neuroscience - it is the science of neurons, the science of the brain may help not to be lost in jungle of charlatans.
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