Averages can definitely oversimplify things, especially in neuroscience where outliers often tell the real story. Taleb touches on this in Antifragile—focusing

Averages can definitely oversimplify things, especially in neuroscience where outliers often tell the real story. Taleb touches on this in Antifragile—focusing too much on the average can make us miss what’s happening at the edges, where the most interesting things are. Instead of leaning on averages, we might get more insight by paying attention to the extremes, where the real nuances are hiding.