Brain imaging using brain power

Brain imaging studies, especially those based on behavioral or social aspects, always get a lot of publicity. Most top journals including Nature, Science, PNAS, etc. often highlight works in this research area. It is quite easy to get side-tracked by some of these works. This is partly because so little is known that any interpretation can easily sell without enough proof. There, however, are researchers who strictly follow evidence-based medicine. The studies these researchers conduct take a lot longer to finish and it means less papers. However, in the long run, the latter have a lasting impact on the field. This post highlights a paper by researchers from MIT and UCSD (Vul et al., Perspectives on Psychological Science, 2009, in press), where they have critically examined metrics that are used to describe brain imaging studies in social neuroscience experiments. This work is extremely interesting and presents a lot of food for thought.