Comments on: Magnetic Zaps to the Brain Can Alter People’s Moral Judgments

By: Tierra

Tierra — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 12:38:57 +0000

“To be able to apply a magnetic field to a specific brain region and change people’s moral judgments is really astonishing” – not really. You deliver a magnetic pulse to the brain that temporarily stops brain cells from working normally and of course there will be consequences. Findings like these give scientists (e.g., Joshua Greene) the illusion of nature over nurtue, while others counter with nurture over nature. But isn’t it clear that (human) nature needs to be nurtured?

By: paul

paul — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 18:19:09 +0000

we’ve often described our Sleep on Command™ pulsed magnetic sleep-machine at having the distinct ability to disengage active thought process to promote deeper sleep during periods of “trying” to achieve and maintain sleep.

there are two studies similarly using a figure 8 coil at 1 Hz such as the one used here and one using electric stimulation at 1 Hz.
full text of MIT study -> http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2010/03/11/0914826107.full.pdf+html
the 1 Hz studies showing sleep enhancing effect ->
http://www.pr.com/press-release/38250

By: marjan

marjan — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 16:52:51 +0000

this is hot

By: Rob John

Rob John — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:10:46 +0000

These magnetic pulses did not change a persons moral beliefs or thinking. These pulses temporarily interferred with the normal process. This is akin to taping a persons eyes closed and saying you have changed how they see or percieve the world.

By: Doug Watts

Doug Watts — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 05:19:05 +0000

Well, this requires a law barring the use of magnetic pulses to this part of peoples’ brains.

And Joshua Greene is an ass. I severely doubt he is using himself or his children for these experiments.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 03:15:49 +0000

Surely a Harvard psychologist could offer something better than the ridiculously simplistic quote attributed to Joshua Greene. Just as philosophers in previous times obsessively sought to connect the soul with a particular organ of the body, some scientists today appear obsessed with explaining human behavior in purely neurophysiological terms, as if mapping the brain to specific behaviors will somehow inevitably lead to explanations/controls for all behaviors. Ability to successfully conduct and document an experiment intended to evaluate the influence of a physical variable, in this case a magnetic field, upon human behavior does not remark upon anything besides the skill of those performing the experiment and those data obtained which, it is hoped, would not invalidate the original hypothesis; it does not validate any extension of the hypothesis beyond the scope of the original experiment. Hastening death by removing a vital organ does not identify the removed organ with the “existence” of a soul. Altering behaviors by applying a magnetic field to a region of the brain does not identify that region as the “source” of morality.

By: Torres

Torres — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 01:11:32 +0000

What bugs me out is that many of us routinely hold up a magnet to our right ear through the speakers found in our phones and buds.

By: Roy

Roy — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 23:38:29 +0000

Cool! Immediate uses could be for people with unsavory but necessary jobs; I’m thinking the solicitation of organ/cadaver donors or abortion clinics?

By: Yar

Yar — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 23:15:09 +0000

Awesome stuff