Cross-species neuroscience: closing the explanatory gap

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Comparative Cognition
• Neuroimaging

Background:

• Non-invasive human brain investigation tools offer macroscopic measures but lack cellular detail.
• Invasive animal models provide microcircuit insights but struggle with human relevance.
• An explanatory gap exists between human macroscopic and animal microscopic neuroscience.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose a cross-species approach to bridge the explanatory gap in neuroscience.
• To outline a framework for relating human and animal brain activity.
• To enhance understanding of complex cognition and behavior through comparative methods.

Main Methods:

• Adopting a three-armed cross-species investigation strategy.
• Translating diverse neural activity measures into a common analytical space.
• Leveraging preserved homology across mammalian brains for comparison.

Main Results:

• A framework for cross-species neuroscience investigation is presented.
• The approach facilitates the translation of neural activity measures.
• Potential for transforming basic neuroscience and neuropsychiatric drug development is highlighted.

Conclusions:

• A cross-species approach is essential for closing the explanatory gap in neuroscience.
• This strategy can unify macroscopic human brain data with microscopic animal model data.
• The proposed method holds promise for improving clinical translation in neuropsychiatric research.