INS NYC 2024 Program

Breaks / Other Events	Program Schedule 02/15/2024 08:00 am - 08:55 am Location: Broadway Ballroom INS Lifetime Award Presentation (Bilder) This Dogma Won’t Hunt! A Zetetic Perspective on Neuropsychology Research Summary Abstract: Neuropsychology as a discipline challenges distinctions between mind and brain, departing from historical dogma about mind-brain dualism. This presentation highlights contrarian conclusions from projects in which I was lucky to participate, and how these may have broadened understanding of brain behavior relations. Can we repeal the neuropsychological (NP) “law” that there is no retrograde amnesia without anterograde amnesia? Can ventricular and sulcal enlargement be associated with better rather than worse NP function? Can hippocampal structure be more closely linked to executive and motor functions than to learning and memory? The surprising answers to these questions challenged existing theories and led to new and usually more nuanced hypotheses. Opportunities to pursue larger projects relating phenotypes to genotypes (“phenomics”) revealed larger problems. Specifically, the weakness of associations across levels of analysis from the genomic to the syndromic indicated that many popular hypotheses about biological mechanisms underlying behavior are probably wrong. To obtain robust evidence about the brain bases of behavior will likely demand large scale studies that span diagnostic boundaries, use multiple investigative strategies to interrogate both brain and behavior, and cross diverse cultural contexts. These revelations motivated more recent efforts to aggregate data for open, shared analysis, as manifest in the National Neuropsychology Network (NNN) and the INS Worldwide Initiative for Neuropsychological Data Sharing (WINDS). We further anticipate that initiatives focused on disruptive technologies and innovation may help make the contrarian approach mainstream as a functional competency for neuropsychology. We hope by focusing on how to harmonize data on a global scale, challenge conventional wisdom and retain openness to new conceptual frameworks, that we can further bridge gaps in knowledge and promote integrated understanding of brain and behavior. Presenter(s): Robert M Bilder, PhD, ABPP-CN Michael E. Tennenbaum Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences and Psychology, UCLA Semel Institute, Los Angeles, CA, USA Robert Bilder is the Tennenbaum Family Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology, Chief of Psychology at UCLA Health, and Director of the Center for the Biology of Creativity at UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. He is a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist and directs training programs in Clinical Neuropsychology at UCLA. His research focuses on brain and behavior, with aims to eliminate artificial boundaries between mental health and illness, and between every day and exceptional creativity. His current NIH grants examine reward mechanisms and have established a National Neuropsychology Network to aggregate data on a large scale to help develop the next generation of neuropsychological assessment methods. He helps lead the INS Worldwide Initiative for Neuropsychological Data Sharing (WINDS) special interest group, which aims to promote international data sharing and data harmonization. He has a long-standing interest in promoting innovation and technology, served as a member of the expert panel at the Minnesota Update Conference for neuropsychology and heads the Disruptive Technology Initiative for the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology. He also recently completed the “Big C” project to examine brain function in exceptional creativity and now directs a National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab to measure impact of the arts on well-being. He lived and worked for 28 years in New York and is delighted to be returning for INS 2024 in the Big Apple!

Breaks / Other Events

02/15/2024
08:00 am - 08:55 am
Location: Broadway Ballroom

INS Lifetime Award Presentation (Bilder)

This Dogma Won’t Hunt! A Zetetic Perspective on Neuropsychology Research

Summary Abstract:

Neuropsychology as a discipline challenges distinctions between mind and brain, departing from historical dogma about mind-brain dualism. This presentation highlights contrarian conclusions from projects in which I was lucky to participate, and how these may have broadened understanding of brain behavior relations. Can we repeal the neuropsychological (NP) “law” that there is no retrograde amnesia without anterograde amnesia? Can ventricular and sulcal enlargement be associated with better rather than worse NP function? Can hippocampal structure be more closely linked to executive and motor functions than to learning and memory? The surprising answers to these questions challenged existing theories and led to new and usually more nuanced hypotheses. Opportunities to pursue larger projects relating phenotypes to genotypes (“phenomics”) revealed larger problems. Specifically, the weakness of associations across levels of analysis from the genomic to the syndromic indicated that many popular hypotheses about biological mechanisms underlying behavior are probably wrong. To obtain robust evidence about the brain bases of behavior will likely demand large scale studies that span diagnostic boundaries, use multiple investigative strategies to interrogate both brain and behavior, and cross diverse cultural contexts. These revelations motivated more recent efforts to aggregate data for open, shared analysis, as manifest in the National Neuropsychology Network (NNN) and the INS Worldwide Initiative for Neuropsychological Data Sharing (WINDS). We further anticipate that initiatives focused on disruptive technologies and innovation may help make the contrarian approach mainstream as a functional competency for neuropsychology. We hope by focusing on how to harmonize data on a global scale, challenge conventional wisdom and retain openness to new conceptual frameworks, that we can further bridge gaps in knowledge and promote integrated understanding of brain and behavior.

Presenter(s):

Robert M Bilder, PhD, ABPP-CN

Michael E. Tennenbaum Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences and Psychology, UCLA Semel Institute, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Robert Bilder is the Tennenbaum Family Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry and Psychology, Chief of Psychology at UCLA Health, and Director of the Center for the Biology of Creativity at UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. He is a board-certified clinical neuropsychologist and directs training programs in Clinical Neuropsychology at UCLA. His research focuses on brain and behavior, with aims to eliminate artificial boundaries between mental health and illness, and between every day and exceptional creativity. His current NIH grants examine reward mechanisms and have established a National Neuropsychology Network to aggregate data on a large scale to help develop the next generation of neuropsychological assessment methods. He helps lead the INS Worldwide Initiative for Neuropsychological Data Sharing (WINDS) special interest group, which aims to promote international data sharing and data harmonization. He has a long-standing interest in promoting innovation and technology, served as a member of the expert panel at the Minnesota Update Conference for neuropsychology and heads the Disruptive Technology Initiative for the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology. He also recently completed the “Big C” project to examine brain function in exceptional creativity and now directs a National Endowment for the Arts Research Lab to measure impact of the arts on well-being. He lived and worked for 28 years in New York and is delighted to be returning for INS 2024 in the Big Apple!