While parents have long received guidance on how to raise children, a relatively new element of this involves explicit references to infant brain development, drawing on brain scans and neuroscientific knowledge. Sometimes called ‘brain-based parenting’, this has been criticised from within sociological and policy circles alike. However, the engagement of parents themselves with neuroscientific concepts is far less researched. Drawing on 22 interviews with parents/carers of children (mostly aged 0–7) living in Scotland, this article examines how they account for their (non-)use of concepts and understandings relating to neuroscience. Three normative tropes were salient: information about children’s processing speed, evidence about deprived Romanian orphans in the 1990s, and ideas relating to whether or not children should ‘self-settle’ when falling asleep. We interrogate how parents reflexively weigh and judge such understandings and ideas. In some cases, neuroscientific knowledge was enrolled by parents in ways that supported biologically reductionist models of childhood agency. This reductionism commonly had generative effects, enjoining new care practices and producing particular parent and infant subjectivities. Notably, parents do not uncritically adopt or accept (sometimes reductionist) neurobiological and/or psychological knowledge; rather, they reflect on whether and when it is applicable to and relevant for raising their children. Thus, our respondents draw on everyday epistemologies of parenting to negotiate brain-based understandings of infant development and behaviour, and invest meaning in these in ways that cannot be fully anticipated (or appreciated) within straightforward celebrations or critiques of the content of parenting programmes drawing on neuropsychological ideas.

中文翻译：

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神经生物学限制和爱的躯体意义：苏格兰育儿计划中照顾者对神经科学的参与


虽然父母长期以来一直在接受如何抚养孩子的指导，但其中一个相对较新的元素涉及明确提及婴儿大脑发育，利用脑部扫描和神经科学知识。有时被称为“基于大脑的养育方式”，这受到了社会学和政策界的批评。然而，父母本身对神经科学概念的参与的研究却少之又少。本文根据对生活在苏格兰的儿童（主要是 0-7 岁）的父母/照顾者的 22 次访谈，探讨了他们如何解释他们（不）使用与神经科学相关的概念和理解。三个规范比喻很突出：有关儿童处理速度的信息、有关 20 世纪 90 年代贫困的罗马尼亚孤儿的证据，以及有关儿童入睡时是否应该“自我安定”的想法。我们询问父母如何本能地权衡和判断这些理解和想法。在某些情况下，父母以支持童年能动性的生物还原论模型的方式吸收神经科学知识。这种还原论通常具有生成效应，要求新的护理实践并产生特定的父母和婴儿主观性。值得注意的是，父母不会不加批判地采用或接受（有时是简化的）神经生物学和/或心理学知识；相反，他们会思考它是否以及何时适用于抚养孩子并与其相关。 因此，我们的受访者利用日常的育儿认识论来协商基于大脑的对婴儿发育和行为的理解，并以在对育儿计划内容的直接庆祝或批评中无法完全预期（或理解）的方式赋予这些意义。关于神经心理学的想法。