A fundamental goal of research in neuroscience is to uncover the causal structure of the brain. This focus on causation makes sense, because causal information can provide explanations of brain function and identify reliable targets with which to understand cognitive function and prevent or change neurological conditions and psychiatric disorders. In this research, one of the most frequently used causal concepts is ‘mechanism’ — this is seen in the literature and language of the field, in grant and funding inquiries that specify what research is supported, and in journal guidelines on which contributions are considered for publication. In these contexts, mechanisms are commonly tied to expressions of the main aims of the field and cited as the ‘fundamental’, ‘foundational’ and/or ‘basic’ unit for understanding the brain. Despite its common usage and perceived importance, mechanism is used in different ways that are rarely distinguished. Given that this concept is defined in different ways throughout the field — and that there is often no clarification of which definition is intended — there remains a marked ambiguity about the fundamental goals, orientation and principles of the field. Here we provide an overview of causation and mechanism from the perspectives of neuroscience and philosophy of science, in order to address these challenges.

神经科学研究的一个基本目标是揭示大脑的因果结构。这种对因果关系的关注是有道理的，因为因果信息可以提供对大脑功能的解释，并确定可靠的目标来理解认知功能并预防或改变神经系统疾病和精神疾病。在这项研究中，最常用的因果概念之一是“机制”——这可以在该领域的文献和语言、指定支持哪些研究的拨款和资助查询以及考虑贡献的期刊指南中看到。供出版。在这些背景下，机制通常与该领域主要目标的表达联系在一起，并被称为理解大脑的“基本”、“基础”和/或“基本”单位。尽管其用法很常见并且被认为很重要，但机制的使用方式却多种多样，很少加以区分。鉴于这个概念在整个领域以不同的方式定义——而且通常没有明确的定义——该领域的基本目标、方向和原则仍然存在明显的模糊性。在这里，我们从神经科学和科学哲学的角度概述因果关系和机制，以应对这些挑战。