Dr. Mario E. Martinez’s theory of Biocognition is based on research that demonstrates how thoughts and their biology develop in a cultural history. Conventional science continues to divide mind and body as well as ignore the influence cultural history has in the process of aging, health and illness. For example, cultures that support aging as a positive development associated with increased wisdom and abilities have higher numbers of centenarians living healthier lives than cultures that view aging as a process of increased deterioration.

In Biocognitive theory, individuals are seen as an inseparable living field of mind, body and historical culture in constant search for contextual meaning. These fields define the known as inclusive and the unknown as foreign. The fields (cultural beliefs) are contained within horizons that set off alarms when confronted with unknown or contradictory situations. The bioethical codes (rules of conduct) that are assimilated from the historical culture, along with our biological foundation, coauthor how we respond to novelty in our internal and external worlds with reactions that range from curiosity to panic.

Dr. Martinez argues, in Biocognitive theory, that current mechanical models of the life sciences study disease by reducing the body to “pathological parts”. He proposes that the healing process must include the historical culture that molds the mind-body expression of health and illness.

Biocognitive theory combines research in psychoneuroimmunology, cognitive science, and cultural anthropology with contemplative psychology to view and treat the processes of aging, health and illness as dynamic bioinformational fields that cannot be reduced to their cognitive, biological or cultural components.

For a more technical explanation go to Biocognitive Epistemology