12/2/2023 0 Comments Psychological phenomenaIn every case, however, people thought that the brain test was more informative, and they drew inferences that went far beyond what the test actually suggested. The two tests were equally likely to provide a diagnosis. In a series of studies, my colleagues and I invited hundreds of participants-all nonscientists-to “play clinician.” They had to diagnose a clinical condition using either a brain or behavioral test. Several recent investigations by my lab shed new light on the mystery. But the preference to reduce psychology to neuroscience is particularly strong-more so than in other scientific domains. Researchers have found that people do, indeed, prefer reductive explanations. Reductionism, the tendency to explain scientific phenomena at one level by appealing to a more basic level (such as reducing biology to chemistry), presents another explanation. Although they play a role, the fascination with the brain remains even when scientists remove these factors. Past studies make it clear that neither the use of vivid brain images, nor the complexity, nor the science jargon alone drives people’s preference for brain explanations of psychological phenomena. Why people fall in love with brain-based explanations, however, has remained a scientific mystery. Yet laypeople thought they did, so much so that once the brain was invoked, participants overlooked gross logical flaws in the accounts. ![]() The brain details were entirely superfluous-they did nothing to improve the explanation, as judged by neuroscientists. One invoked a psychological mechanism, and the other was identical except it also dropped in a mention of a brain region. In classic work on the “ seductive allure of neuroscience,” a team of researchers at Yale University presented participants with a psychological phenomenon (for instance, children learning new words), along with two explanations. These sorts of science news stories speak to a bias: As numerous experiments have demonstrated, we have a blind spot for the brain. Where else would those differences reside? Nor is it surprising that an amateur cellist’s brain works differently than Yo-Yo Ma’s-or that the brains of typical and dyslexic readers differ in some way. You hardly need a brain scan to tell that your toddler is enraged. Furthermore, invoking the brain does not always improve our understanding. Few of us care for the technical details of how molecules and electrical charges in the brain give rise to our mental life. But it is not just the love of science that kindles our interest in these stories. And your screaming toddler’s tantrums originate from her amygdala, a brain region linked to emotions. ![]() People with dyslexia have different neural connections than people without the condition. The brains of musicians “really do” differ from those of the rest of us. Now neuroscience offers the answers-or so say the news headlines. ![]() How can a cellist play like an angel? Why am I engrossed in my book when others struggle with reading? And while we’re at it, can you tell me why my child won’t stop screaming?
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