Skip to main content

Readers respond

Essay on fMRI draws criticism and praise from psychologists and others

Written byR Grant Steen
| 6 min read

Register for free to listen to this article
Listen with Speechify
0:00
6:00

To the Editor:

I am not a social scientist, nor am I a practitioner of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), but I am expert in MRI, so I feel qualified to offer unbiased criticism of your essay in the July 19, 2004, issue of The Scientist. You have written a factually inaccurate and dangerously oversimplified bit of fluff that, for the sake of a moment's amusement, holds up to ridicule the work of many serious scientists. Certainly, there have been abuses and overinterpretation of results, but we all remember when sequencing the genome was going to answer all of our questions about medicine.

Let me be explicit about the ways in which you were wrong or wrong-headed:

1) Putting "fake" in the title is simply irresponsible, and I hope you get the avalanche of mail that you deserve about this.

2) You make the blanket statement that fMRI is not ...

Interested in reading more?

Become a Member of

The Scientist Logo
Receive full access to more than 35 years of archives, as well as TS Digest, digital editions of The Scientist, feature stories, and much more!
Already a member?
Add The Scientist as a preferred source on Google

Add The Scientist as a preferred Google source to see more of our trusted coverage.

Meet the Author

Related articles background image
The Scientist Digest cover September 2026
September 2026

Multiplex Microscopy Becomes Easier with Encoded Antibodies

A new system that enables researchers to uniquely tag monoclonal antibodies for use in microscopy could help simplify complex imaging studies.

View this Issue
Rethinking ALS Biomarkers: From Discovery to Clinical Impact

Rethinking ALS Biomarkers: From Discovery to Clinical Impact

Alamar Biosciences logo
Best Practices for qPCR Assay Design and Optimization

Best Practices for qPCR Assay Design and Optimization

Bio-Rad
Beyond the Basics: Strategies for Single-Cell and Spatial Transcriptomics Analysis

Beyond the Basics: Strategies for Single-Cell and Spatial Transcriptomics Analysis

bioxcell
Scientist reviewing cellular and molecular data on a computer in a laboratory.

Building Translation-Ready Biomarkers with Connected Workflows

Danaher Logo

Products

Closeup image of a multi channel pipette dispensing pink liquid into a 96-well plate.

The ASSIST PLUS pipetting robot for affordable workflow automation

Integra Logo
Single cells in suspension

Rapidly isolate primary cells and make uniform single-cell suspensions with Corning® Cell Strainers

Corning logo
Abstract image representing cell membranes linked together.

CellBrite® Steady Membrane Stain: Cell surface staining built for real-time imaging

Biotium
sino biological logo

Monod Bio Licenses AI-designed Protein Technologies to SignalChem Biotech for Custom Discovery Assays