Hacker News Reader

Because they are no more or less useful. Here's a link to one of the best headlines Wired ever ran:

http://www.wired.com/2009/09/fmrisalmon/

Essentially, even a stinking dead fish will show positives in an fMRI. And yes, these studies have really rocked the fMRI field and called into doubt many experiments.

View on HN

fMRI as a method is not bankrupt or ill-founded. However, as the study you linked shows, it is susceptible to statistical artifacts that must be controlled to support rigorous conclusions.

fMRI is not bankrupt or ill founded, but it shows what it shows, that is more or less the geography of brain oxygen consumption.

The ill-founded and bankrupt part comes from all of weak and tenuous interpretation that comes after that. fMRI can teach us much about brain physiology, but when blood flow is linked to psychology we should exhibit heightened skepticism.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com