Comments on: Scientists trying to read your mind? http://www.refscan.info/2007/03/05/scientists-trying-to-read-your-mind/ Magnetic Resonance Imaging news, information, and journal club, with minimal spin. Tue, 10 Nov 2009 00:39:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Aziz http://www.refscan.info/2007/03/05/scientists-trying-to-read-your-mind/comment-page-1/#comment-109 Aziz Wed, 07 Mar 2007 17:18:53 +0000 http://www.refscan.info/2007/03/05/scientists-trying-to-read-your-mind/#comment-109 You beat me to it, Rebecca! I'm glad you posted this. I wonder if we need a category called fmri-abuse. My favorite line was actually the ominous speculation, "The concept of keeping your thoughts private could be profoundly altered in the future" - cue scary music. I don't know what future it is that has MRI machines lurking on every street corner, though <a href="http://www.refscan.info/2007/02/13/superconductor-breakthroughs-imminent/" rel="nofollow">who knows</a>... :) At any rate I think the ethicists have more to worry about with respect to stem cell research than what those wacky scientists are up to with their mind-reading rays. Part of the problem though is that fMRI is so poorly understood. I think that the physiologic response to a thought (which is what BOLD is really measuring) is hard to intuitively understand. Sometimes the neuroscience literature blurs the distinction as well - not necessarily with deliberate intent to deceive, but more just as a shorthand. You beat me to it, Rebecca! I’m glad you posted this. I wonder if we need a category called fmri-abuse. My favorite line was actually the ominous speculation, “The concept of keeping your thoughts private could be profoundly altered in the future” – cue scary music. I don’t know what future it is that has MRI machines lurking on every street corner, though who knows… :)

At any rate I think the ethicists have more to worry about with respect to stem cell research than what those wacky scientists are up to with their mind-reading rays.

Part of the problem though is that fMRI is so poorly understood. I think that the physiologic response to a thought (which is what BOLD is really measuring) is hard to intuitively understand. Sometimes the neuroscience literature blurs the distinction as well – not necessarily with deliberate intent to deceive, but more just as a shorthand.

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