Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Behavioral and Brain Sciences is a bimonthly peer-reviewed scientific journal of Open Peer Commentary established in 1978 by Stevan Harnad and published by Cambridge University Press. According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2022 impact factor of 29.3. Behavioral and Brain Sciences is modeled on the journal Current Anthropology (which was established in 1959 by the University of Chicago anthropologist, Sol Tax). The journal publishes "target articles" followed by 10 to 30 or more peer commentaries and the response of the authors of the target article. The journal covers all areas of the biobehavioral and cognitive sciences (psychology, neuroscience, behavioral biology, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, linguistics, philosophy) and articles are judged by four or more referees to be of sufficient importance and interdisciplinary scope to merit Open Peer Commentary. Volume 1 appeared in 1978 and issues appeared quarterly; as its popularity grew it switched to a bimonthly schedule in 1997. In 2010, Henrich et al. published a paper on the WEIRD bias in this journal, showing that the vast majority of research samples (95%) came from very few countries totally only 12% of the population, and in neuroscience, 90% of samples come from these countries. As a result, fundamental principles, biases, and heuristics considered standard in psychology and neuroscience are not as universal as they appear. In their response published alongside the article, Joan Y. Chiao and Bobby K. Cheon pointed out that when asked to consider their position relative to others, Westerners show medial prefrontal activity in brain scans, while this phenomenon is not observed in East Asians.