We Are So Predictable!
Released on - 6/24/2010 1:24:41 PM
The first shocking news was that we know ourselves only half as well as we thought! This means we are wrong about ourselves half the time! This is incredible, because if we ought to know anyone, it is surely our own selves.
Not Oriental Mumbo Jumbo
Then, we were reeling when we found out that a bunch of scientists are actually able to read our minds. They are able to predict our actions better than we can! This is not some oriental mumbo jumbo, but hard-core science.
A group of scientists at the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) are being led by Emily Falk. They have used brain scans to figure out what people are going to do. They have taken images of brains in real time and have been able to successfully interpret them. A group of people were shown messages about something innocuous, for example, a sun screen. Then the brain scans took images of their brains. Based on these images, the scientists were able to predict who would use sunscreen in that group.
These predictions were compared with the predictions of the volunteers themselves. Guess what? The scientists were more accurate! How so? Well, it seems that we decide to do many things but we don't actually get around to doing them at all. Our intentions are often not followed through by action. So out of the group of 20 volunteers that intended to use the sunscreen, some of them never actually did so.
Falk and her team were able to base their predictions on fMRI, or functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. They measured the flow of blood that enters ours brains and magnetic fields showed them which areas of the brain had become more active. If they saw increased activity in one particular area of the brain - the medial prefrontal cortex, which is associated with self-awareness - they were able to interpret the information they gathered from there.
About half the volunteers said they would use sunscreen but Falk and co correctly predicted that three quarters of them would use it. Now, it seems they plan to use these results to encourage people to quit smoking.
Not Oriental Mumbo Jumbo
Then, we were reeling when we found out that a bunch of scientists are actually able to read our minds. They are able to predict our actions better than we can! This is not some oriental mumbo jumbo, but hard-core science.
A group of scientists at the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) are being led by Emily Falk. They have used brain scans to figure out what people are going to do. They have taken images of brains in real time and have been able to successfully interpret them. A group of people were shown messages about something innocuous, for example, a sun screen. Then the brain scans took images of their brains. Based on these images, the scientists were able to predict who would use sunscreen in that group.
These predictions were compared with the predictions of the volunteers themselves. Guess what? The scientists were more accurate! How so? Well, it seems that we decide to do many things but we don't actually get around to doing them at all. Our intentions are often not followed through by action. So out of the group of 20 volunteers that intended to use the sunscreen, some of them never actually did so.
Falk and her team were able to base their predictions on fMRI, or functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. They measured the flow of blood that enters ours brains and magnetic fields showed them which areas of the brain had become more active. If they saw increased activity in one particular area of the brain - the medial prefrontal cortex, which is associated with self-awareness - they were able to interpret the information they gathered from there.
About half the volunteers said they would use sunscreen but Falk and co correctly predicted that three quarters of them would use it. Now, it seems they plan to use these results to encourage people to quit smoking.
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