Brain Scans: Don't Throw Out The Baby With The Dead Salmon

Is neuro-skepticism in danger of going too far? Is it time to take a critical look at critiques of neuroscience? Martha Farah of the University of Pennsylvania says yes, in a Hastings Center Report just published: Brain Images, Babies, and Bathwater: Critiquing Critiques of Functional Neuroimaging Farah covers a broad spectrum of criticisms, ranging from 'fMRI doesn't measure brain activity directly, it only measures blood oxygen', to the Voodoo Problem, and the charge that 'brain images exert a seductive allure.' I don't have space to discuss these in detail, but I can recommend the paper as a clear and balanced discussion of these tricky issues. She concludes on a moderately positive note (emphasis mine):