"That's all very well, but what about the real world?"
This, or something to this effect, is a stock criticism of much of psychology and cognitive neuroscience. Studies of human behavior and brain function under carefully controlled laboratory conditions don't tell us much about everyday life, the argument goes.
It's a serious point. But a group of neuroscientists have now sought to dispel such worries in rather spectacular fashion. With the help of some nifty wireless headsets, Alan Gevins and colleagues of San Francisco took electroencephalography (EEG) out of the lab and organized an EEG party - allowing them to record brain electrical activity from 10 people as they chatted and drank vodka martinis. An electroencephalorgy one might say.
This is perhaps the only time in history that scientists have admitted, on record, to getting drunk with their research funding.
Pics or it didn't happen? They have pics:
And more:
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