On Wed, 15 Apr 2015 14:04:01 -0700, Scott O Lilienfeld wrote:
HI All:
Talk about dedication to teaching...
http://nancysbraintalks.mit.edu/video/neuroanatomy-lesson
Y'know, there was a time when I would show my class
the SPECT scan images of my brain when covering neuroimaging
and brain function but I never felt the need to shave my head
and mark it up to show where different spots of blood flow
were located.
However, I did point out that there is a long-standing debate
in neurosciences about the "localist" versus "globalist"
position of brain function. Phrenologists and many of their
contemporary kin believe that cognitive-perceptual functions
are located in specific brain areas ("modules" in the "good
old fashioned phrenology" while such modules may or may
not be located in specific brain areas in new interpretations
of modularity as promoted by Jerry Fodor) and Kanwisher
appears to belong to this church. "Globalists" argue for
whole brain cooperative action/computation even if specialized
processes did exist (see William Uttal's "The New Phrenology").
To see how these different positions lead to remarkably different
interpretations of brain, cognitive, and affective function, see
Malcolm Macmillan's "An Odd Kind of Fame: Stories of Phineas
Gage"; the book is available on Amazon and books.google.com; see:
https://books.google.com/books?id=Qx4fMsTqGFYC&pg=PR4&lpg=PR4&dq=%22an+odd+kind+of+fame%22+macmillan&source=bl&ots=-m5CUeeglY&sig=7xcOQDETb2IiZSMKtpyn_r4Ywks&hl=en&sa=X&ei=TusuVYrHGcaKsQSwgoCQAQ&ved=0CFYQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=%22an%20odd%20kind%20of%20fame%22%20macmillan&f=false
Macmillan maintained a website on Gage which is now incorporated
into the University of Akron's history of psychology archive; see:
https://www.uakron.edu/gage/index.dot
So, the question arises: is it dedication to teaching or
proselytizing for a particular theoretical viewpoint?
As a counterweight to the argument presented by Kanwisher,
consider the following reports:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2007/07/20/us-brain-tiny-idUSN1930510020070720
And on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8R71Q8_0y0
Please, no jokes about French civil servants or people who work
in tax offices. ;-)
On that note, let's have the Doobies play us out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJe1iUuAW4M
-Mike Palij
New York University
m...@nyu.edu
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