From 2db4b87dec12e8e0d67636f06f5c20bcff9fa559 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Sameer Khan <16654884+samkhan1@users.noreply.github.com> Date: Wed, 6 Mar 2024 04:45:39 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Update 01-02-04.md --- docs/01-02-04.md | 8 ++++---- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/01-02-04.md b/docs/01-02-04.md index 310e069..e2bbb08 100644 --- a/docs/01-02-04.md +++ b/docs/01-02-04.md @@ -72,15 +72,15 @@ The research experiments that I was employed to work on, were conducted in Rover 1. The work done by Giacomo Rizzolatti on the existence of ["mirror neurons"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror_neuron) is particularly faulty and problematic, because in his 'seminal study' that 'proved' the existence of mirror neurons, he randomly chose to study approximately 250 out of trillions of neurons in a live macaque brain, using single cell recordings. His most widely publicized experiments involved forcibly training a macaque monkey on a physical task, under duress for many months, to then cut open the monkey's skull, and poke thin electrodes into the monkey's brain tissue to record electro-chemical activity of single neuron cells, while the monkey was repeatedly made to perform the trained tasks. In such animal experiments involving live, single cell recordings, the animal dies in a few days because of the irreversible cranial surgery. Upon completing the single cell recordings from randomly chosen portions of the pre-frontal cortex of a monkey's brain, Rizzolatti claimed to have arrived at 'an empirical proof' suggesting that, the same set of neurons were activated when the monkey performed physical tasks of pushing or lifting objects, as well as when it watched a video of another monkey performing the same physical tasks. -1. What were the rest of the trillions of neurons in the monkey's brain doing during Rizzolatti's experiments investigating the existence of mirror neurons? And why are such cruel experiments on animals even useful to human society? Well, all brain science textbooks have typically ignored both questions, and likewise, almost every popular neuroscience researcher has ignored the question about what the rest of the trillions of neurons were doing during Rizzolatti's animal experiments involving single cell recordings. However, the purpose of assuming the given 'proof' of the existence of mirror neurons from Rizzolatti's animal experiments as being valid and true, has to do with explaining the concept of "vicariousness" of bodily movements in human beings. +1. What were the rest of the trillions of neurons in the monkey's brain doing during Rizzolatti's experiments on investigating the existence of mirror neurons? And why are such cruel experiments on animals even useful to human society? Well, all brain science textbooks have typically ignored such questions, and likewise, almost every popular neuroscience researcher has ignored the question about what the rest of the trillions of neurons were doing during Rizzolatti's animal experiments involving single cell recordings. However, the purpose of assuming the given 'proof' about the existence of mirror neurons from Rizzolatti's animal experiments, as being valid and true, has to do with explaining the concept of "vicariousness" of bodily movements in human beings. - 1. Fabricated answers derived from Rizzolatti's experiments for questions such as, do animals experience some kind of sensory stimulation when viewing videos of other animals, were extrapolated to the idea that human beings also have "mirror neurons" by virtue of being animals. The same type of experiments conducted on monkeys were then conducted on voluntary human beings, within universities and publicly funded labs in Canada, the US, the UK, Netherlands, and Italy; except that instead of cutting open a human skull and taking single cell recordings with electrodes, the experimental readings were taken using people put inside fMRI machines. + 1. Fabricated answers derived from Rizzolatti's experiments for questions such as, do animals experience some kind of sensory stimulation when viewing videos of other animals, were extrapolated to the idea that human beings also have "mirror neurons" by virtue of being animals. The same type of experiments conducted on monkeys were then conducted on voluntary human beings, within universities and publicly funded labs in Canada, the US, the UK, Netherlands, and Italy; except that instead of cutting open a human skull and taking single cell recordings with electrodes, the experimental readings were taken using human test subjects put inside fMRI machines. - 1. The names and affiliations of researchers working with fMRI based studies have been omitted here, to spare them some embarrassment. But their fMRI based experiments were basically designed like this example: people (mostly *voluntold* undergrads and colleagues), were asked to perform tasks such as moving a finger to push a button with their dominant hand, while their brain scans were taken using an fMRI machine. Then those people were shown videos of somebody else performing the same task, while a second set of fMRI images of each human subject's brain activity was recorded using the same fMRI settings. Upon comparing the two sets of images using statistical analysis involving ["Generalized Linear Models"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generalized_linear_model), it was erroneously concluded that human beings also have mirror neurons. And then a magical leap was made by those researchers to suggest that human beings can vicariously feel another person's pain, when seeing someone else go through hardships, thus 'proving' that properly functioning mirror neurons are the 'neurological basis of empathy and healthy cognition.' + 1. The names and affiliations of researchers working with fMRI based studies have been omitted here, to spare them some embarrassment. But their fMRI based experiments were basically designed like this example: people (who were mostly *voluntold* undergrads and colleagues), were asked to perform tasks such as moving a finger to push a button with their dominant hand, while their brain scans were taken using an fMRI machine. Then those people were shown videos of somebody else performing the same task, while a second set of fMRI images of each human subject's brain activity was recorded using the same fMRI settings. Upon comparing the two sets of images using statistical analysis involving ["Generalized Linear Models"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generalized_linear_model), it was erroneously concluded that human beings also have mirror neurons. And then a magical leap was made by those researchers to suggest that human beings can vicariously feel another person's pain, when seeing someone else go through hardships, thus 'proving' that properly functioning mirror neurons are the 'neurological basis of empathy and healthy cognition.' 1. It must be emphasized here, that there is no such thing as mirror neurons in actuality, and the concept of a few clusters of "mirror neurons" in the brain functioning alongside trillions of "non-mirror neurons" to help human beings ape each other's social etiquette and behaviors, is an entirely fictitious and false narrative, promoted by old-school racists. - 1. But more importantly, publications from the supporters of researches like Rizzolatti, have been popularized to showcase that Western scientific methodology and technological prowess, has come to resolve a deeply valuable and difficult to answer question about mechanisms of vicarious feelings, that has been fundamental to human neurology, psychology, and particularly sociology. Also, such publications are used as the basis for asserting that, people who aren't in agreement with, or empathetic to Western sentiments, are pathologically defective due to a lack of properly functioning "mirror neurons." The 'rationalizations' adopted by Western thought leaders, for diminishing and pathologizing non-Euro-centric cultural views and behaviors, come from the 'groundbreaking scientific work' carried out by the likes of Giacomo Rizzolatti. + 1. But more importantly, publications from the supporters of researches like Rizzolatti, have been popularized to showcase that Western scientific methodology and technological prowess, has come to resolve a deeply valuable and difficult to answer question about mechanisms of vicarious feelings, that has been fundamental to human neurology, psychology, and particularly sociology. Also, such publications are used as the basis for asserting that, people who aren't in agreement with, or empathetic to Western sentiments, are pathologically defective due to a lack of properly functioning "mirror neurons." The 'rationalizations' adopted by Western thought leaders, for diminishing and pathologizing non-Euro-centric cultural views and behaviors, tend to come from the 'groundbreaking scientific work' carried out by the likes of Giacomo Rizzolatti. 1. Even though the concept of mirror neurons is entirely fictitious, and has been conjured up by old-school racists, its thrust is still used for describing the basis of empathy, and touted as a 'significant factor' within the neural basis of autism, in well known textbooks promoted by Westernized universities across the world.