Monday, March 08, 2010

A small selection from MindHacks

How reliable are fMRI results?:
"A new study has looked at the reliability of fMRI brain scanning results over time, finding that the same experiment will only only be moderately reproducible when conducted at two different times, suggesting that fMRI is much less reliable than most researchers assume."

It links Neurocritics response Depression's Cognitive Downside to Jonah Lehrer's article Depression’s Upside . Excerpts:
"It should be obvious that a transient, slightly sad state is drastically different from a prolonged major depressive episode......The analytical rumination hypothesis even has the potential to be harmful. Belief in the glorious "upside" of their ailment could prevent some severely depressed individuals from getting proper treatment, placing them at greater risk of suicide and other adverse events. Needless to say, such an outcome would be of no evolutionary advantage."

MindHacks is a bit more enthusiastic about Jonah Lehrer's pose Inequality Aversion. Excerpt from the post:
"The lesson, then, is that while we are inequality averse, it's a fragile kind of aversion. Even a hint of meritocracy can erase our guilt."
See also the comments. Hoever, it is not so straight forward. See Does Culture Matter in Economic Behavior? Ultimatum Game Bargaining in Machiguenga of the Peruvian Amazon. Boyd and Richerson have been telling us for some time the importance of culture Not By Genes Alone: How Culture Transformed Human Evolution .

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