Seyed Mojtaba Alavi (ESR4)

Date: 03/10/2023

Place: Institut des Sciences Cognitives (ISC)

As part of the In2PrimateBrains program, each student was invited to participate in a public engagement activity aimed at sharing neuroscience with a broader audience. On October 3rd, 2023, I took part in an outreach event at our host institute, the Institut des Sciences Cognitives (ISC), where we welcomed high school students to introduce them to the field of neuroscience.

For my talk, I chose to focus on the concept of modeling and its fundamental role in science—particularly in neuroscience. I designed the presentation to be accessible to high school students, using simple English and relatable examples to convey complex ideas. The slides were in French to align with the students' primary language, but the oral presentation was given in clear, simplified English to ensure broad understanding.

To illustrate the importance of modeling, I used a common and intuitive example: the relationship between exercise and muscle growth. I began with the simple assumption that more exercise leads to more muscle, which we can represent as a linear model:
y = ax + b,
where y is the amount of muscle gained and x is the amount of exercise.

I then introduced the idea that this model might not reflect reality when pushed to the extreme. If one exercises too much, muscle can actually be lost instead of gained—so the relationship is not linear but curved. In fact, a better model might be a downward-opening parabola, such as:
y = -ax² + b,
where y is still the amount of muscle gained, and x is the amount of sport or exercise. This curve shows that there's an optimal point—somewhere in the middle—where muscle gain is maximized, and going beyond that starts to have negative effects.

This analogy helped me explain that scientists use models to make sense of phenomena that are difficult or even impossible to study directly. In neuroscience, for example, we often create models to investigate how neuromodulators affect neurons—something not easily manipulated in natural conditions.

The students were engaged and curious, and several of them asked thoughtful questions about modeling, showing that the concepts were well understood and sparked their interest.

This experience reinforced my belief in the importance of outreach and science communication. It was a rewarding opportunity to practice simplifying complex ideas and making neuroscience more accessible and inspiring for young minds.