Causation and Logic in Neuroscience

Causality is the most critical pillar of scientific inference in the Western world. Revealing a cause amounts to an explanation. However, other cultures that do not rely on cause-and-effect arguments can also arrive at valid scientific conclusions. The concept of causation is especially problematic in self-organized systems with amplifying-damping feedback loops, such as the brain. Causes in such systems are often circular or multidirectional; events are not caused but emerge. Correlation is symmetric, in the mathematical sense. However, in searching for the cause of the assumed interactions, we designate one set of variables as independent and the other as dependent, interpreting the relationship as asymmetric. Precaution should be taken not to conflate the “thing-to-be-explained” with “things that explain.”