Naturalistic Tasks Can Benefit Psychiatry

Abstract

Maselli et al. do an excellent job highlighting how studying rich, complex, naturalistic behaviors can help neuroscientists and psychologists understand neural and mental phenomena. We fully concur with their arguments, as well as with somewhat similar ones made by other scholars. Indeed, we believe that the potential value of naturalistic paradigms is even greater than the authors state. We are particularly sanguine about the power of the naturalistic approach to help with understanding psychiatric diseases.