The INECO Foundation is a non-profit organization, with the main purpose of supporting research programs on brain functioning, prevention, detection and treatment of neurological and psychiatric disorders, both in adults and children.

In addition, the foundation studies brain processes, such as decision-making, executive functions, emotional regulation, consciousness, free will, attention, language and autobiographical memory. All this is based on the assumption that scientific findings do not always provide rewards in the short term, but when they do, they have an impact on people’s lives.

The INECO Foundation has published more than 600 scientific articles in first-class national, regional and international journals and more than 30 scientific and popular books throughout its 12 years of existence. These advances in the research on brain functioning and disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, autism, depression, anxiety, Parkinson’s disease, stroke, head trauma, among others, were achieved thanks to the interaction with a renowned and multidisciplinary international scientific advisory committee and to the different local and international academic and scientific alliances. Furthermore, each project is implemented by a team made up of engineers, biologists, psychologists, neurologists, psychiatrists, physicists, among others, who work collectively in a space that promotes creativity and anti-discipline, trying to answer historical questions about how different elements of the brain interact and give rise to the behavior of human beings. Bearing in mind that the generation of knowledge is a tool for improving people’s lives and contributing to the welfare of patients and their families, INECO Foundation transfers its innovative findings both to the scientific training of professionals, as well as to the awareness and education of the community.

Since its creation, the Foundation has hosted more than 900 community talks and workshops for families of patients. It also trained around 12 thousand professionals with more than 670 trainings in congresses and symposiums, involving more than 70 international scientists. All this work is developed on the basis of four fundamental principles: interdisciplinary work, the relevance of research projects for society, the international impact of their research, and the generation of awareness on neuroscience topics in the community.

With the purpose of providing scientific knowledge on human behavior in order to design and implement better public policies, INECO Foundation houses the Institute of Neurosciences and Public Policies. Its main objective is to provide scientific knowledge on human behavior to design better public policies and improve people’s quality of life. Neurosciences and Behavioral Sciences can collaborate in the design of effective policies and interventions to solve problems related to health, education, poverty, justice, citizen behavior, care for the environment, savings and other relevant areas of society. Through the work of this Institute we seek to encourage a committed civil society that can place knowledge at the core of national development.

Some of the cornerstones of our research are: the identification of brain areas related to the human decision-making process, the description of the neuronal mechanisms of aggression and the social brain, the characterization of the island of Reil’ s role (insula) in cognitive and emotional processes, the study of brain areas involved in the development of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, the first detection of the emotional processing of patients with minimal deterioration of consciousness, the development of cognitive studies and screening tests aimed at making the early diagnosis of dementias (currently an epidemic) easier, the evidence of the neural bases of racial prejudice, the identification of the critical role of the amygdala in the ultra-fast detection of an intention to harm others (the basis of moral judgment and empathy) and the characterization of a new syndrome called Transient Epileptic Amnesia. All this work has been recognized both nationally and internationally. The famous Kónex award, recently obtained as one of the 5 best Health Entities of the last decade (2008-2018), is an example of this.

Thus, from Argentina, INECO Foundation has become a state-of-the-art institution leading the field of cognitive neurosciences, neurology, psychiatry and neuropsychiatry in Latin America, becoming one of the most innovative, dynamic and cutting-edge research institutes in the region.  Argentina’s international impact on research in human cognitive neurosciences and neuropsychiatry is driven, in part, by the creation of INECO Foundation by the private sector and its subsequent alliance with the CONICET (National Scientific and Technical Research Council) and the Ministry of Science.