Ancestral Neuroscience Practices in South America: Historical Legacy and Neurobiological Glimpses
Dec 16, 2025
Long before the advent of modern neurosurgery and psychiatry, indigenous South American societies engaged in complex interventions targeting the brain and mind. From cranial trepanation in the Andes to ayahuasca rituals in the Amazon, these practices reveal a profound empirical knowledge of neuroanatomy, consciousness, and healing, even though these topics had other names. As contemporary science revisits the therapeutic potential of psychedelics and neuroplastic interventions, it is increasingly relevant to examine the roots of these traditions and their possible contributions to modern neuroscience.
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About the Contributors
Valéria Marques Figueira Muoio, MD, PhD, is a neurosurgeon based in São Paulo, Brazil. She did her doctorate at the University of São Paulo, with a period at Johns Hopkins University and also worked as a scientist at Charite University in Berlin, Germany.
Hugo Sánchez-Castillo is a professor/researcher from the National Autonomus University of Mexico (UNAM). His major field is in the cognitive neurosciences particularly in the neurobiology of stress and related disorders.
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