The New Phrenology
by William R. Uttal · first published 2001
4mentions
2recommended by
3HN commenters
2012–2021first – last mentioned
67% recommend33% neutral
"William Uttal is concerned that in an effort to prove itself a hard science, psychology may have thrown away one of its most important methodological tools - a critical analysis of the fundamental assumptions that underlie day-to-day empirical research. In this book Uttal addresses the question of localization: whether psychological processes can be defined and isolated in a way that permits them to be associated with particular brain regions.". "New, noninvasive imaging technologies allow us to observe the brain while it is actively engaged in mental activities. Uttal cautions, however, tha
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While I look forward to reading this book, I recommend interested people balance it somewhat with one of the books by Uttal. Neural Theories of Mind and The New Phrenology are both good reads that raise theoretical and practical hurdles to reverse engineering brains.
on “Kurzweil's new book: How to Create a Mind” ↗The books of William Uttal cover the issues of localization and neurological modeling at different levels of detail. The most popular I think is The New Phrenology[1] and the most technical is Mind and Brain[2]. A quote from the latter: To sum up, the new metaphor proposed here asserts that it seems more likely in the light of current research that there are no…
on “Myths about the brain” ↗I thought that the new phrenology (localizing some cognitive activity spatially somewhere in the brain) is dead. Late William Uttal provided empirical arguments to the effect that new phrenology is dead. This said research is about mouse.…
on “Study shows where the brain transforms seeing into acting” ↗…to is correct to a large extent. Yes, you can record waves, and you can even classify them like N170. Responses can be 'localized'; however, one has to be a bit careful. Even many researchers say it is new phrenology: for instance, William R. Uttal wrote a book on it, called "The New Phrenology. The limits of localizing cognitive processes in the Brain". This book is not based on philosophical arguments, but based…
on “A man who can read letters but not numbers exposes roots of consciousness” ↗