In a recent paper in Biological Theory, KLI group leaders Isabella Sarto-Jackson and Barbara Fischer, together with Daniel O. Larson (California State University), introduce the Integrative Neurobiology and Cultural Context (INCC) theory and Cultural Neurobiological Inheritance Systems (CNIS).

INCC theory argues that human behavior arises from continuous interactions between neuroplastic brain processes, emotions, and sociocultural environments, rather than from genes or brain structure alone. CNIS captures how cultural experiences shape and stabilize functional brain architectures—memory traces (engrams), neuromodulatory and stress?response baselines, and large?scale network connectivity—which can be transmitted vertically (e.g., through caregiving) and horizontally (e.g., via peers, institutions, and rituals).

Drawing on evidence from engram research, neuroepigenetics, cultural neuroscience, theory of mind studies, and work on transgenerational trauma in Holocaust families, the authors propose CNIS as a third inheritance system alongside genetic and epigenetic inheritance. They call for interdisciplinary research to test and refine this framework and to better understand how culture becomes biologically embedded across generations.

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