Contemporary problems with methods in basic brain science impede progress in ASD research and treatments

This chapter identifies and discusses five central problems concerning the basic scientific approaches for data gathering, analyses, and interpretation in the subfield of behavioral neuroscience. We illustrate these issues using empirical data where current assumption of linearity and normality in data that are inherently otherwise has masked important clinical phenomena and obstructed the path to Precision Medicine. Within the subfields of basic scientific research and clinical practices, we posit that these problems are preventing us from unveiling first principles of brain functioning, including those related to the question of how deliberate autonomy and intelligence may emerge in a nascent, developing nervous system. The chapter provides examples from several timelines of the human life span. These include neurodevelopment, childhood, youth, and adulthood. The hope is to provide enough evidence to convince our readership that we already have the proper tools to transform contemporary research and clinical practices toward personalized targeted treatments for precision psychiatry. All we need is not to impose any a priori assumptions on our data, and rather let their inherent variabilities guide our statistical inquiry.