Comments for nerd alert

Comment on Too fussy for words? by jonathan jb webb

jonathan jb webb — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:13:56 +0000

Hi Max,

I believe what’s new is that Pasley’s team has offered some computational detail about *how* the activity in STG is different when we hear different words. They were interested in how cortical activity represents the physical characteristics of speech sounds that are most important for understanding – and they found that those characteristics can be decoded from cortical recordings in a surprisingly reproducible manner.

Does that make any sense?!

Cheers,
Jonathan

Comment on Too fussy for words? by Max Coltheart

Max Coltheart — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:43:20 +0000

Before this work was done, didn’t we already know that the pattern of activation in STG must be different when the spoken input is heef compared to when it is thack? Since if that were not true, people would not be able to repeat these non-words correctly after hearing them.

Given that, what does this work tell us that we didn’t already know?

Max C.

Comment on Read my shorts: why brain reading is baloney by nerd alert « Too fussy for words?

nerd alert « Too fussy for words? — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:17:52 +0000

[...] “oh no it isn’t” refrain is a familiar one to most neuroscientists who read the news. I’ve railed against these sorts of claims before; usually they stem from fMRI studies which offer reporters a tempting side-serving of [...]

Comment on wallpaper of the week 23-05-11: jellyfish genes by Bennet

Bennet — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:50:38 +0000

Rad!

Comment on Why it bugs me when science gets into sex by Kierra

Kierra — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 14:45:38 +0000

I was just wondering if your issues with study sexuality are based more on the science itself or the statements and conclusions the seem to come to. At one point you mentioned that the science becomes unreliable because all of the data can only be considered correlation, however the science of psychology, whether it applies to sex or not, can really only be correlation. None of us can truly know and understand the motives and thought processes of those around us, especially as a growing person and looking at the environmental factors that shaped them as children. So if you feel that it is a wasted science then I have to disagree with you, but if you mainly against the conclusions that seem to be arising I would be more inclined to agree especially on the subject of trying to find out what MAKES someone gay. I myself am interested in entering the field of human sexuality, and want to do so on a biological basis, but I have to admit that finding what makes one gay is something I have little no interest in as I have always taken it at the face value of “the like what they like.”

Comment on The Ronald McDonald Paradox by Melinda

Melinda — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 06:33:32 +0000

Thank you for your lucid exploration of the issue. The inside of my head looks a lot like this, only less organised.

Comment on The Ronald McDonald Paradox by Guy

Guy — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 00:20:25 +0000

Thanks for your post. I have grappled with these issues quite a bit over my career (choosing a career, an employer, making decisions, etc). I whole-heartedly agree that it is tricky, at times paradoxical, but that shouldn’t stop us trying to make sense of it.

Some of the paradoxes that I note of in this space:

- Intentions and Impacts both matter – if you let one trump the other, you’ll create problems

- Your actions may be considered individually, but paint a cumulative picture. In other words, you can’t complain if people pick out any one of your actions and assess it in isolation, but, your reputation may be built by multiple things.

- While there is no moral obligation to do good, in practice there are often very good reasons to do good. (and dviding them into rational and altruiistic reasons probably makes the assessment messier, rather than cleaner).

Comment on wallpaper of the week 21-11-11: webs of steel by Joe

Joe — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:22:41 +0000

that vid’s a classic

Comment on wallpaper of the week 21-11-11: webs of steel by Joe

Joe — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 09:20:26 +0000

ah that’s rad – I always wondered how spiders laid their first thread

Comment on desktop of the week 6-12-10: blue holes by nerd alert « wallpaper of the week 03-10-11: cave of swallows

nerd alert « wallpaper of the week 03-10-11: cave of swallows — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 09:59:38 +0000

[...] carbonate that forms part of limestone. It’s the same process that formed our favourite blue hole in Belize. It’s seems that people like jumping into holes no matter what the medium involved. [...]