Table 1.

Terminology used in this manuscript: three neuroscience examples

	Examples
	Cellular	Systems	Disease
Framework A general description about the structure of the world, providing a language and a conceptual basis for developing theories	Explanations for differences in neural functional properties can be appropriately described in terms of differences in the electrochemical properties of membranes and proteins.	Explanations of the production of movement by skeletal muscle contractions can be appropriately described in terms of patterns of action potentials in the CNS.	Explanations of neurodegenerative diseases can be appropriately described in terms of dysfunction in cellular processes.
Theory A set of ideas that can be used to explain a set of phenomena (the domain of the theory)	Specific voltage-gated ion channels enable excitable properties of neurons, such as the action potential.	Many movements are generated by central pattern generators that are primarily driven by internal oscillatory dynamics.	Parkinson's disease entails the loss of dopaminergic function in the substantia nigra.
Model An instantiation of aspects of a theory in an (often mathematical) structure, which is interpreted to represent aspects of a phenomenon	The Hodgkin–Huxley equations represent the voltage-dependent conductances that underlie the action potential.	Half-center oscillators represent neural circuits in the notochord that underlie swimming processes in the lamprey.	Dopaminergic loss caused by 6-OHDA in rodents and MPTP in nonhuman primates represent similar losses in Parkinson's disease that underlie behaviors, such as bradykinesia and tremors.