Functional Constructivism Approach to Multilevel Nature of Bio-Behavioral Diversity

Abstract

Attempts to revise the existing classifications of psychiatric disorders (DSM and ICD) continue and highlight a crucial need for the identification of biomarkers underlying symptoms of psychopathology. The present review highlights the benefits of using a Functional Constructivism approach in the analysis of the functionality of the main neurotransmitters. This approach explores the idea that behavior is neither reactive nor pro-active, but constructive and generative, being a transient selection of multiple degrees of freedom in perception and actions. This review briefly describes main consensus points in neuroscience related to the functionality of eight neurochemical ensembles, summarized as a part of the neurochemical model Functional Ensemble of Temperament (FET). None of the FET components is represented by a single neurotransmitter; all neurochemical teams have specific functionality in selection of behavioral degrees of freedom and stages of action construction. The review demonstrates the possibility of unifying taxonomies of temperament and classifications of psychiatric disorders and presenting these taxonomies formally and systematically. The paper also highlights the multi-level nature of regulation of consistent bio-behavioral individual differences, in line with the concepts of diagonal evolution (proposed earlier) and Specialized Extended Phenotype.

Analytic Background in the Neuroscience of the Potential Project “Hippocrates”

“…Brain structures and specific synapses vary dramatically regarding the types of neurotransmitters and receptors used during their activities. These variations are not random but reflect the functionality of neurochemical systems in behavioural regulation (as reviewed earlier in [7,8,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. Moreover, temperaments and symptoms of psychopathology are based on the same neurochemical cycles, and the idea of a continuum between them was supported by neurochemical correlates of several temperament traits:neuroticism [20,21], low endurance [22], rigidity (as low plasticity) [23,24], impulsivity [25][26][27], emotional dispositions [16,28], (low) empathic processing [29,30], compromised probabilistic (thought) processing [31], sensation/risk seeking [32,33], and (low) sustained attention [34,35].…”

“…For these reasons, many resources were already spent on mapping the brain and classifications of consistent behavioural patterns (CBP) [1,2]. As suggested earlier, the CBP abbreviation unifies the concepts related to consistent individual differences in behaviour, whether temperament and personality traits of healthy people, symptoms of mental disorders or semi-clinical patterns in-between on this continuum [2][3][4][5][6][7][8].…”

“…English cognitive psychologist Frederic Bartlett [48] also proposed in the mid-1930s that memory has a constructive nature. This constructivism principle was described in a range of bio-behavioural sciences (kinesiology, psychophysiology, cognitive, developmental, ecological, educational psychology, psychological modelling and psychology of emotions, see [7,8,49] for reviews). At the neuronal level of behavioural regulation, it has been shown that brain connectivity is very plastic and that neuronal ensembles of the brain re-organize themselves with a change in situational contexts and tasks [50][51][52].…”

Emotionality vs. Other Biobehavioural Traits: A Look at Neurochemical Biomarkers for Their Differentiation

“…The FC approach to bio-behavioural taxonomies was implemented in the neurochemical framework Functional Ensemble of Temperament (FET) that summarised the most conservative findings regarding the functionality of neurotransmitters, hormones, and OR systems (Trofimova, 2016(Trofimova, , 2018(Trofimova, , 2021aTrofimova and Robbins, 2016). The temperament of healthy individuals (including animals) and symptoms of psychiatric disorders can be presented as a continuum of weak vs. strong dysregulation within neurochemical systems generating CBPs (Sulis, 2018;Rezaei et al, 2021;Trofimova, 2021b). This conception of the continuum is supported by decades of research in psychopharmacology and neurochemistry, showing the impact of neurochemical dysregulation (Sulis, 2018).…”

“…More consistently, OXT has been reported to have an association with pro-affiliative perception (van Anders et al, 2011;McCall and Singer, 2012;Decety et al, 2014;Shamay-Tsoory and Abu-Akel, 2016;Kanat et al, 2017;Jones and Sloan, 2018;Declerck et al, 2020). The neurochemical framework FET (Trofimova, 2016(Trofimova, , 2021bTrofimova and Robbins, 2016) summarised the consensus in the literature on the key role of OXT-VSP (in specific combination with gonadal hormones) in empathy (i.e., social type of behavioural orientation to other's people motives and psychological states). Other authors also support the "social salience hypothesis of oxytocin" (reviewed in Shamay-Tsoory and Abu-Akel, 2016;Liu et al, 2019), underlying the tendency for OXT administration to increase pro-social perception, including trust (Declerck et al, 2020), face recognition (Decety et al, 2014;Kanat et al, 2017), facilitation of mother-infant interactions (Jones and Sloan, 2018), processing of social value (Liu et al, 2019), empathy, and perceived attachment (Heinrichs and Domes, 2008;Bartz et al, 2011Bartz et al, , 2015Bartz et al, , 2019Meyer-Lindenberg et al, 2011;Olff et al, 2013;Kanat et al, 2014).…”