LATBrain as a Regional Ecology of Neuroscience

When Latin American science begins to function as a living network

Before continuing, try a brief mental experiment.

Imagine a single neuron.

Now imagine billions of neurons connected together forming a brain.

Where does intelligence emerge?

Not from the isolated neuron.
It emerges from the network.

Something similar is happening in science.

For decades, many laboratories in Latin America worked relatively independently. Talented researchers, often producing excellent work, but frequently with limited resources and weak regional integration.

In recent years, however, a different pattern has begun to appear.

Latin American neuroscience is increasingly functioning as a collaborative ecosystem, where networks of researchers share methods, data, and ideas.

One initiative that reflects this dynamic is LATBrain.

LATBrain

LATBrain: when science becomes a network

LATBrain emerged as a collaborative initiative connecting researchers across Latin America interested in areas such as:

• cognitive neuroscience

• social neuroscience

• neurotechnology

• interdisciplinary collaboration

More than a formal institution, LATBrain functions as a distributed scientific network, linking researchers, laboratories, and students across multiple countries.

This kind of structure is particularly important in Latin America, where scientific production often faces structural challenges, including:

• limited funding

• institutional fragmentation

• dependence on scientific centers in the Global North

Regional networks can help strengthen scientific capacity through cooperation and knowledge sharing.

Experiment 1 — How scientific networks produce knowledge

Imagine two situations.

Scenario A
One laboratory works alone on a research question.

Scenario B
Ten laboratories in different countries collaborate, sharing data, experimental protocols, and theoretical perspectives.

Which scenario is more likely to produce breakthroughs?

Studies on scientific collaboration show that international research networks often generate higher-impact and more innovative discoveries than isolated efforts (Wagner et al., 2021).

In other words:

science itself exhibits forms of collective intelligence.

Experiment 2 — The rise of Latin American neuroscience

Over the last two decades, neuroscience in Latin America has grown significantly.

New research centers and training programs have emerged, along with regional organizations promoting collaboration.

Examples include:

• SBNeC (Brazilian Society for Neuroscience and Behavior)

• Sociedad Argentina de Neurociencia (SAN)

• Sociedad Chilena de Neurociencia

• IBRO-LARC, the Latin American Regional Committee of the International Brain Research Organization

• FALAN, the Latin American Federation of Cognitive Neuroscience

These initiatives promote:

• scientific collaboration

• training of young researchers

• regional research infrastructure

Recent analyses suggest that neuroscience output in Latin America continues to increase despite structural constraints in funding and infrastructure (Valdés et al., 2021; Ibáñez et al., 2023).

Experiment 3 — Scientific ecosystems

Now imagine science as a forest.

Each laboratory is like a tree.

A single tree can grow on its own.

But when many trees form a forest, something new emerges:

• shared resources

• resilience

• ecological balance

Scientific networks operate in a similar way.

LATBrain can be understood as part of this emerging scientific ecosystem, where knowledge flows across borders and institutions.

Through such networks, researchers can:

• share methodologies

• co-develop experiments

• build interdisciplinary collaborations

These interactions help create a stronger regional research environment.

Situated science in Latin America

Another important dimension of these networks is the production of situated knowledge.

For decades, much of cognitive and psychological research relied heavily on populations described as WEIRD:

Western
Educated
Industrialized
Rich
Democratic

These populations represent only a small fraction of the world's diversity.

Latin American researchers have increasingly emphasized the importance of studying cognition and behavior in diverse cultural and social contexts (Ibáñez et al., 2023).

This includes exploring:

• cultural diversity

• social dynamics

• relationships between mind, body, and territory.

Such perspectives contribute to a broader and more inclusive understanding of human cognition.

LATBrain as a regional scientific ecology

In this sense, LATBrain can be understood as more than a collaborative network.

It represents a form of regional scientific ecology.

In this ecology:

• laboratories function as nodes

• researchers function as connections

• ideas circulate as flows of information.

Just as intelligence in the brain emerges from interactions among neurons, the strength of Latin American neuroscience may increasingly emerge from interactions among its research communities.

A final experiment

Return to the first image.

A single neuron.

Now imagine a full brain.

The difference between the two is the network.

Perhaps the future of neuroscience in Latin America depends on something similar:

transforming isolated laboratories into a large, interconnected scientific brain.

And initiatives like LATBrain may represent an important step in that direction.

References

Ibáñez, A., Sedeño, L., García, A. M., & Pineda, J. A. (2023). Neuroscience in Latin America: Toward a more inclusive and collaborative scientific landscape. Nature Reviews Neuroscience.

Valdés, J. L., et al. (2021). Neuroscience development in Latin America: Challenges and opportunities. Frontiers in Neuroscience.

Wagner, C. S., Whetsell, T., & Mukherjee, S. (2021). International research collaboration: Novelty, conventionality, and atypicality in knowledge recombination. Research Policy.

Ibáñez, A., & García, A. M. (2022). The Latin American network neuroscience perspective. Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

Aron, A., Ibáñez, A., & Melloni, L. (2022). Cognitive neuroscience in Latin America: Current challenges and future opportunities. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.

Fernández-Theoduloz, G. (2024). Research in Latin America from a decolonial perspective: Challenges of producing socially situated knowledge. Latin American Research Review.

IBRO-LARC (2022). Neuroscience training and collaboration initiatives in Latin America. International Brain Research Organization Reports.