Famed psychologist, Kurt Lewin, stressed that human behavior is a function of both the person and the environment. The following is known as Lewin’s equation:

Behavior = ƒ(Person, Environment)

The physical and social environment that surrounds us has a profound impact on our brains and behavior. This impact is so fundamental that a complete understanding of neural mechanisms cannot be developed without taking into account the extensive interactions between neurobiology, psychology, behavior, and the environment. 

Below is a figure demonstrating how environmental neuroscience incorporates elements from multiple subfields to model the relationship between person and environment (Berman et al., 2019).

Understanding the relationship between individual neural processing and environmental factors lies at the heart of our research. In our lab, we utilize brain imaging techniques, computational neuroscience, and statistical models to quantify the person, the environment, and their interaction.

To read more about the promise of environmental neuroscience, click here for our article.