I don't get why this is an igNobel. The researchers are showing that the
standard statistical tests used in fMRI studies give nonsensical results
(namely, the dead salmon "showed active voxel clusters in the salmon’s
brain cavity and spinal column"). In contrast, when they use their proposed
correction, it didn't.

Showing that the statistical methodology of an entire field is
fundamentally flawed is a big deal. And given that this field is making its
appearance in courtrooms (
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100317/full/464340a.html) it is a *very*
big deal.

—R

On Thu, Sep 27, 2012 at 12:30 PM, Roger Critchlow <[email protected]> wrote:

> Like a smell in your refrigerator that won't go away, the fMRI study of
> empathy in dead salmon, http://www.jsur.org/v1n1p1, has resurfaced again
> to claim the 2012 igNobel prize for neuroscience.
>
> -- rec --
>
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