News about a neuroimaging group's attempts to predict intentions hit the wire a few days ago. The major theme was how mindreading might be used for unethical purposes. What about its more profound implications? If your intentions can be predicted before you've even made a conscious decision, then your will must be determined by brain …
Continue reading “Predicting Intentions: Implications for Free Will”
Time magazine has just published an intriguing article on the neural basis of consciousness. The article was written by Steven Pinker, a cognitive scientist known for his controversial views on language and cognition. Here are several excerpts from the article… On the brain being the basis for consciousness: Scientists have exorcised the ghost from the …
Several news articles have come out today which seem to imply that a recent Science report's main finding is that the mind wanders for a purpose (see this Forbes article), and that "daydreaming improves thinking" (see this Cosmos article). These are typical of fabrications used by popular science journalists to pique the public's interest. Mason, …
Continue reading “Wandering Minds and the Default Brain Network”
Normally, neuroscientists try to discover things about the brain, as if it were one monolithic thing. Might the differences between individual brains be important, or useful? A recent article in New Scientist describes recent efforts to use each person's unique brain activity patterns as a kind of fingerprint (or 'brainprint') for security purposes. The system …
