Brain Scientists Push Back on "Technology Fetish"

A new study described by The Atlantic as "part philosophical treatise and part shot across the bow," argues that neuroscientists have been led astray by new research technologies. The authors point to the need for "a more pluralistic notion of neuroscience when it comes to the brain-behavior relationship: behavioral work provides understanding, whereas neural interventions test causality." Lead author John Krakauer notes, "People think technology + big data + machine learning = science. And it’s not." One example is mirror neurons, "the most hyped concept in neuroscience," in which "interpretation is being mistaken for result." Read the study, published in Neuron, here.