On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 4:34 AM, Richard Loosemore <[email protected]> wrote:
> Vladimir Nesov wrote:
>>
>> On Thu, Jan 15, 2009 at 3:03 AM, Richard Loosemore <[email protected]>
>> wrote:
>>>
>>> The whole point about the paper referenced above is that they are
>>> collecting
>>> (in a large number of cases) data that is just random noise.
>>>
>>
>> So what? The paper points out a methodological problem that in itself
>> has little to do with neuroscience.
>
> Not correct at all:  this *is* neuroscience.  I don't understand why you say
> that it is not.

>From what I got from the abstract and by skimming the paper, it's a
methodological problem in handling data from neuroscience experiments
(bad statistics).

>
>> The field as a whole is hardly
>> mortally afflicted with that problem
>
> I mentioned it because there is a context in which this sits.  The context
> is that an entire area - which might be called "deriving psychological
> conclusions from barin scan data" - is getting massive funding and massive
> attention, and yet it is quite arguably in an Emperor's New Clothes state.
>  In other words, the conclusions being drawn are (for a variety of reasons)
> of very dubious quality.
>
>> If you look at any field large enough, there will be bad science.
>
> According to the significant number of people who criticize it, this field
> appears to be dominated by bad science.  This is not just an isolated case.
>

That's a whole new level of alarm, relevant for anyone trying to learn
from neuroscience, but it requires stronger substantiation, mere 50
papers that got confused with statistics don't do it justice.

-- 
Vladimir Nesov
[email protected]
http://causalityrelay.wordpress.com/


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