THE NEED FOR MORE EXPLANATORY HUMILITY IN ADDICTION NEUROBIOLOGY

Abstract

Comments on an article by Harold Kalant (see record [rid]2010-07130-003[/rid]). The authors analysis of what neuroscience cannot tell us about addiction is a timely reminder of the dangers of explanatory hubris. We endorse wholeheartedly the author’s call for a more integrative approach to the study of addiction; one that includes ‘interactions at all levels from the sub-molecular to the environmental and social’ and recognizes that humans are highly complex biological and psychological beings embedded within a web of social interactions that include a variety of overlapping spheres such as the family, governments, the criminal justice system, the public health system, and commercial interests. The development of such an integrated approach is no small task. It will require a sustained dialogue between neuroscientists and behavioral and social science researchers in addiction. There is an especially pressing need for neuroscientists to provide more accessible accounts of their work, accounts that honestly acknowledge its limitations and identify ways to narrow the explanatory gap between animal models of addiction and the variegated phenomena of human drug use and addiction (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)