Hi There was a nice study a number of years ago showing that one could "see" mental rotation operations in the brains of monkeys performing a mental rotation task. Paivio and others have long argued that there are isomorphic brain processes associated with certain types of mental operations (e.g., imagery). It should not be surprising from such a perspective to find that increasingly precise imaging of the brain allows for interpretation of the activity.
A humunculous is not necessary, of course, if it is simply the brain processes that give rise to the experience and allows for yes-no judgments on tasks like Shepard's mental rotation task. Take care Jim James M. Clark Professor of Psychology 204-786-9757 204-774-4134 Fax [email protected] >>> "Mike Palij" <[email protected]> 25-Sep-11 9:36:22 AM >>> The mass media is picking up a on research article published in "Current Biology" which claims that a neuroscience research group was able to reconstruct "video mental images" from brain activity. One popular media account is provided by ABC (US) news and can be accessed here: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/scientists-youtube-videos-mind/story?id=14573442 The research was conducted in Jack Gallant's lab at UC-Berkeley and here is media release put out by the university: http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2011/09/22/brain-movies/ Here is link to Gallant's lab's website where more info can be obtained; see: https://sites.google.com/site/gallantlabucb/publications/nishimoto-et-al-2011 If replicable, this line of research may be turn out to be very interesting (see Roger Shepard's American Psychologist's article "The Mental Image" where he discusses a hypothetical mechanism that allows one to "see" the mental images in another person's mind). But it leaves unanswered the question of who/what in the brain is watching the mental videos. ;-) -Mike Palij New York University [email protected] --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a891720c9&n=T&l=tips&o=12942 or send a blank email to leave-12942-13251.645f86b5cec4da0a56ffea7a89172...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=12945 or send a blank email to leave-12945-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
