Last month's column suggested that some educational practices that purport to be brain-based or brain-compatible may not have direct research validation from within the brain sciences. Such practices may have been validated by other types of research (such as psychological or educational research), or simply by their long successful use. I believe that it's unnecessary and inappropriate to imply validation from the brain sciences in order to gain the level of authenticity that the term brain research implies in our culture.

Despite such periodic misuse, I also believe that our profession has admirably educated itself about brain systems and processes during the past three decades (given the difficulty of such bootstrapping), and that fewer inappropriate claims are now made because of this increased professional knowledge.