Health neuroscience is a new field that is at the interface of health psychology and neuroscience. It is concerned with the interplay between the brain and physical health over the life span. A chief goal of health neuroscience is to characterize bidirectional and dynamic brain-behavior and brain-physiology relationships that are determinants, markers, and consequences of physical-health states across the life span. The motivation behind this goal is that a better understanding of these relationships will provide mechanistic insights into how the brain links multilevel genetic, biological, psychological, behavioral, social, and environmental factors with physical health—especially vulnerability to and resilience against clinical illnesses. This review provides a conceptual introduction to health neuroscience, focusing on its major themes, representative studies, methodologies, and future directions.
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