Dissecting the Field of Neuroscience

During the previous week, I have focused my attention on the various sub-specialties of the field of neuroscience.There are countless, which I did not expect. This research has helped me discover new and interesting topics and get a better understanding of which areas of the field I want to further my knowledge on.

Before researching, I did not realize neurologists and neuroscientists work in such close proximity with people from different careers. One example of this is neuroinformatics. Neuroinformatics involves a collaboration between neuroscientists and computer engineers in order to develop new data and knowledge of neuroscience through the use of software tools. Another instance is computational neuroscience, which involves completely different fields of study such as physics and mathematics to gain an understanding of how brains compute.

After this research, I finally understood that there are various paths people can take to be involved in studying the brain. Also, I realized that a collaboration between many different knowledge bases is necessary for the advancement of the field of neuroscience.

Although I found these fields interesting, some of the fields that I was most fascinated by were behavioral neuroscience and clinical neuroscience. Behavioral neuroscience is the study of how the brain affects the behavior of humans and other animals. Clinical neuroscience consists of neurologists and psychologists studying and finding treatments for various neurological disorders. I found these topics very intriguing as they study the direct impact of the brain on the rest of the body’s function.

I have gained a lot of knowledge and insight through this research, however, I still have some questions. I am wondering: Is there a way these sub-specialties can be combined? Are more being created due to advances in the field? How much do these different areas differ in means of education and training? These are questions I will answer with further research, in the upcoming weeks.