32 Jan De Vos
these vast communication networks of neurons oversee what we do and
make us what we are. (Griggs, 2010, p. 40)Faced with this vast not-knowing, invariably one can discern a great
leap forward to close this gap:
After delivering their message, the molecules go back into the gap.
Some are destroyed by enzymes in the gap, but others undergo
reuptake— they are taken back into the axon terminals of the sending
neuron to be used again. Because synapses are the channels of
communication between neurons and the means by which the brain
accomplishes most of what it does, they are vital to our well-being.
(Griggs, 2010, p. 44)In the last line we see how the gap between the psychological and the
neurological is closed in one sweeping movement: connecting “well-
being” directly and without much ado to the neurons. And to make sure,
the issue is not only that we yet do not know how neurotransmitters truly
affect our well-being, but, rather, the first and foremost left unexplained
issue is what is well-being? How do you define that? Here the paradox
comes in full force: although psychology is swallowed up by neuroscience
(e.g., reducing well-being to neurological conditions) one still needs it as
an independent variable to correlate to the neurological. Or, as we read in
Coon and Mitterer’s (2012) Introduction to psychology: “What parts of the
brain allow us to think, feel, perceive, or act? To answer questions like
this, we must localize function by linking psychological or behavioral
capacities with particular brain structures” (p. 61).
Localization depends on correlation: we map the brain with
psychology. The colorful brain scan testifies that it is with psychology that
the brain is colored in. Of course one could argue: are not thinking, feeling,
perceiving or acting basic human activities? But one should not miss here
that such categories cannot but be based on the assumptions, models and
theories of psychology. Any claim on what thinking, feeling, perceiving or
acting is (from which experiments are devised to study the brain), stems
from particular psychological theories. Just consider how ‘thinking’ would