neuromythology

vanishedone commented on the word neuromythology

Raymond Tallis: 'New technologies permitting imaging of the waking brain in humans have prompted increasingly extravagant claims about the extent to which advances in neurocience are casting light on human nature. The proliferation of new disciplines, such as neuro-aesthetics, neuro-ethics, neuro-law and neuro-economics, is a symptom of the widespread belief that the activity of the stand-alone brain explains our subjective experiences and our objectively observed behaviour.

'The talk will critically examine this central notion of neuromythology, demonstrate the inadequacy of neural accounts of human nature, discuss the reasons they command such wide support, and spell out the dire consequences they might have if they were truly believed.'

January 31, 2009