Sunday, October 4, 2009

Brain Science: amazing discoveries (listen)



The Amygdala Goes Hollywood
(NPR, On the Media, 10/2/09)
Peering inside our skulls to see our emotions in real time? What do you get when you cross an fMRI machine with the movie industry? It might be called Neurocinema. MindSign co-founder Phil Carlsen and neurologist Dr. David Hubbard explain how their brain scan re-search may help directors give the audience what it wants.

The amazing information comes not from Hollywood's intention to make more pro-fitable movies, but rather what scientists can see about lust, fear/disgust, sorrow/anger, and how they light up the same part of the brain. They are indistinguishable on the functional MRI screen, according to Dr. Hubbard at the tail end of the interview. Compassion/empathy lights up a different part of the brain. Love and even emotion will need to be more precisely defined in light of these amazing discoveries.