Editorial perspective: Leaving the baby in the bathwater in neurodevelopmental research

Article

Wass, S. and Jones, E. J. H. 2023. Editorial perspective: Leaving the baby in the bathwater in neurodevelopmental research. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 64 (8), pp. 1256-1259. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13750

Publication dates
Authors	Wass, S. and Jones, E. J. H.
Abstract	Neurodevelopmental conditions are characterised by differences in the way children interact with the people and environments around them. Despite extensive investigation, attempts to uncover the brain mechanisms that underpin neurodevelopmental conditions have yet to yield any translatable insights. We contend that one key reason is that psychologists and cognitive neuroscientists study brain function by taking children away from their environment, into a controlled lab setting. Here, we discuss recent research that has aimed to take a different approach, moving away from experimental control through isolation and stimulus manipulation, and towards approaches that embrace the measurement and targeted interrogation of naturalistic, user-defined and complex, multivariate datasets. We review three worked examples (of stress processing, early activity level in ADHD and social brain development in autism) to illustrate how these new approaches might lead to new conceptual and translatable insights into neurodevelopment.
Journal	Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry
Journal citation	64 (8), pp. 1256-1259
ISSN	0021-9630
Year	2023
Publisher	Wiley
Publisher's version	Child Psychology Psychiatry - 2023 - Wass - Editorial perspective Leaving the baby in the bathwater in neurodevelopmental.pdf License CC BY 4.0 File Access Level Anyone
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)	https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13750
Online	04 Jan 2023
Print	Aug 2023
Publication process dates
Accepted	11 Dec 2022
Deposited	01 Feb 2024
Funder	European Union Horizon 2020
Copyright holder	© 2023, The Authors

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