Archive for the ‘MRI’ Category
Matlab finite() function warnings
The latest version of Matlab deprecated the finite() function in favor of isfinite(). This is all fine and dandy in terms of improving the scripting language, but this change currently causes a crapalanche of warnings to be thrown as you use SPM. Usually along the lines of: Warning: FINITE is obsolete and will be removed […]
Pacific Rim Neuroimaging 2009 Review
I just recently returned from the “New Horizons in Human Brain Imaging: A Focus on the Pacific Rim” conference in Waikoloa, Hawaii. Here are some of the highlights: – Kang Cheng showed some amazing results from high-resolution fMRI of visual cortex. He described some of the technical difficulties that he and his team have encountered […]
Using Caret for fMRI Visualization
Caret is an incredibly useful program for the calculation and visualization of brain data. Like most incredibly useful programs it is also quite complex and a bit daunting to approach. While looking at three-views is a staple of fMRI research, sometimes it is easier to get the ‘big picture’ from a cortical surface rendering. I […]
Cognitive Neuroscience Society 2009 Review
I had a great time at the 2009 meeting of the Cognitive Neuroscience Society (CNS) last weekend. This is a conference that I try to attend every year, and I have been successful in that goal for six years now. Below is a list of highlights from the conference. I want to take just a […]
The ‘Voodoo Correlations’ saga continues
Saddle up cowpokes, and prepare yourselves, for yet another episode of Voodoo Correlations. The latest salvo comes in the form of a reply authored by Lieberman, Berkman, and Wager. This is an invited paper that will appear in a future edition of Perspectives on Psychological Science alongside the original Vul, Harris, Winkielman, and Pashler paper. […]
The ‘Voodoo Correlations’ debate heats up
It hasn’t taken long for the academically-heated exchanges to begin with regard to the recent Vul, Harris, Winkielman, and Pashler paper. You can’t call out such a large group of authors, say their results are practically meaningless, and not have some of them speak up. One group of authors who were red-flagged as having non-independence […]
Voodoo Correlations in Social Neuroscience
The progress of science is not a continuous, linear process. Instead it moves forward in fits and starts, occasionally under protest. For a young field cognitive neuroscience has made dramatic advances in a relative short amount of time, but there have been some mistakes that we keep making again and again. Sometimes we get so […]
Voodoo Correlations Index
This post serves as an index of the articles that reference the ‘Voodoo Correlations in Social Neuroscience’ debate. The original paper has now been renamed ‘Puzzlingly high correlations in fMRI studies of emotion, personality, and social cognition’. There have been five posts so far, each listed below: [1] Voodoo Correlations in Social Neuroscience: http://prefrontal.org/blog/2009/01/voodoo-correlations-in-social-neuroscience/ [2] […]
Quote of the Week – Gigerenzer
A former chairman of the Harvard Psychology department once asked me “Gerd, do you know why they love those pictures [the fMRI activity maps]?’ It is because they are like women: they are beautiful, they are expensive, and you don’t understand them” – Gerd Gigerenzer
Signs You Have Been Scanning Too Much
I have no idea where it came from originally, but I ran across this list while I was cleaning my digital house the other day. It is pretty funny, but also frighteningly accurate… – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – […]