I somehow missed this whole thread, but in reading Stephen's post, it reminded me of an exchange I recently had with some colleagues. I had provided a quote and challenged them to guess who wrote it (I'll include it below for fun). the point I was trying to make is that it was written 60 years ago yet it still applied to day (i.e. there is little practical application of our research). They disagreed and among other examples, provided me with this recent abstract from their lab that in the last sentence suggests several practical outcomes of the research.
A procedure for identifying regions preferentially activated by attention to semantic and phonological relations using functional magnetic resonance imaging. McDermott KB, Petersen SE, Watson JM, Ojemann JG. Department of Psychology, Washington University, Campus Box 1125, One Brookings Drive, St Louis, MO 63130-4899, USA. [EMAIL PROTECTED] A procedure is introduced for using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques to identify neural regions associated with attention to semantic and phonological aspects of written words within a single group of subjects. Short lists (16 words/list), consisting of visually-presented semantically-related words (bed, rest) or rhyming words (weep, beep) were presented rapidly to subjects, who were asked to attend to the relations among the words. Regions preferentially involved in attention to semantic relations appeared within left anterior/ventral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG, approximate Brodmann Area, BA47), left posterior/dorsal IFG (BA44/45), left superior/middle temporal cortex (BA22/21), left fusiform gyrus (BA37), and right cerebellum. Regions preferentially involved in attention to phonological relations appeared within left inferior frontal cortex (near BA6/44, posterior to the semantic regions within IFG described above) and within bilateral inferior parietal cortex (BA40) and precuneus (BA7). This method is notable in that a comparison of the two tasks within some of the individual subjects revealed activation patterns similar to the group average, especially within left inferior frontal and left superior/middle parietal cortices. This fact combined with the efficiency with which the data can be obtained (here, in about an hour of functional scanning) and the adaptability of the task for many different subject populations suggests a wide range of possibilities for this technique: it could be used to track language development (e.g. in children), compare language organization across subject populations (e.g. for dyslexic or blind subjects), and identify language regions within individuals (e.g. potentially to aid in surgical planning) Quote: "There is a familiar characture of the experimental psychologist which runs something like this: he is first of all an apparatus man, who spends a good share of his time tinkering with sundry pieces of equipment which never quite work to his satisfaction. He investigates only problems which he calls appropriate to the laboratory. he cannot study learning as part of the complex and subtle interplay of behavior and environment in everyday life, so he confines himself to the memorizing of meaningless words presented with clocklike regularity in a standard aperature. He cannot bring love or hate or envy into the laboratory, so he investigates reactions to garter snakes and pistol shots. The only strong motives he knows are his own, for his subjects perform merely to oblige him or because they are required to do so as part of a course they are taking. (In an exceptional case, if he "has a grant," they may be paid $.75 an hour.) he remains an experimental psychologist only so long as his problems have no practical value; that is how he stays pure." Patrick ********************** Patrick O. Dolan, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Psychology Drew University Madison, NJ 07940 973-408-3558 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ********************** ----- Original Message ----- From: "Stephen Black" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, July 09, 2003 12:50 PM Subject: Re: How does psychology "make a significant difference"? No one seems to have taken up David Myers' challenge, at least publicly on TIPS, to identify psychological research which has had a significant practical impact on society. Here's part of what David said: On 25 Jun 2003, David Myers wrote: > As one of his APA presidential initiative, Phil Zimbardo created a > task force, which Bob Bjork and I have agreed to co-chair, that he > charged with creating a "web-based compendium of psychological > research" that has make positive contributions to the lives of > individuals or society. > > As part of this project, I'd like to invite you all to consider: What > psychological research displays the importance of our science to > society and to our students? What impacts of psychological science > make you proud? What might help the general public appreciate the > importance of funding psychology? (Note that the emphasis here is > not on what are psychology's greatest > insights so much as its significant practical impacts.) (see the website at: http://www.psychologymatters.org/performance.html) My nomination would be the achievements of the field of applied behaviour analysis (ABA), which uses the methods of operant conditioning for application to a wide range of significant societal problems: child management in the home, academic performance at school, marital problems, psychological disorders, and problems in industry and business. If that's too broad (and it probably is) I would nominate the work of Ivar Lovaas and his colleagues (e.g. Lovaas, 1987) for their remarkably effective use of ABA to improve the quality of life for children with the severely-disabling disorder of infantile autism. While his claim that his UCLA young autism project has restored autistic children to normality is controversial (e.g. see criticisms in Herbert et al (2002)), even critics note that this is one of the most promising treatments available for autism. Moreover, the criticisms are largely unjustified (see Lovaas' (2000) response to them at his website). No less an authority than the Surgeon General of the US has endorsed the use of ABA for the treatment of autism (quoted in Rosenwasser & Axelrod, 2001, and available at http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/mentalhealth/chapter3/sec6.html# autism). Given the sorry history of quackery in this field, especially the promotion by psychologists and others of the cruel, damaging and totally unfounded idea that autism is caused by inept parenting, this is one application of psychology that makes me truly proud to be associated with this discipline. Stephen Herbert, J. et al (2002). Separating fact from fiction in the etiology and treatment of autism. The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice, 1, xx-xx. Lovaas, O. (1987). Behavioral treatment and normal intellectual and educational functioning in autistic children. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 55, 3-9. Lovaas, O. (2000) Clarifying comments on the UCLA young autism project. Available at: http://www.ctfeat.org/LovaasRebut.htm Rosenwasser, B, & Axelrod, S. (2001). The contributions of applied behavior analysis to the education of people with autism. Behavior modification, 25, 671-677. ______________________________________________________________ Stephen L. Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470 Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661 Bishop's University e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Lennoxville, QC J1M 1Z7 Canada Dept web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy TIPS discussion list for psychology teachers at http://www.frostburg.edu/dept/psyc/southerly/tips _________________________________________________________ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
