Voodoo” Science in Neuroimaging

How a Controversy Transformed into a Crisis

Bibliographic Data

ID13026280
AuthorsRomy Sauvayre (0000-0003-0806-6234, Clermont Auvergne INP, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume12
Issue1
Pages15-15
Publication date2022-12-27
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSocial Sciences (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2076-0760 • E-ISSN: 2076-0760
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/socsci12010015
OpenAlexW4312213136
LanguageEN
References cited56

Since the 1990s, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) techniques have continued to advance, which has led researchers and non specialists alike to regard this technique as infallible. However, at the end of 2008, a scientific controversy and the related media coverage called functional neuroimaging practices into question and cast doubt on the capacity of fMRI studies to produce reliable results. The purpose of this article is to retrace the history of this contemporary controversy and its treatment in the media. Then, the study stands at the intersection of the history of science, the epistemology of statistics, and the epistemology of science. Arguments involving actors (researchers, the media) and the chronology of events are presented. Finally, the article reveals that three groups fought through different arguments (false positives, statistical power, sample size, etc.), reaffirming the current scientific norms that separate the true from the false. Replication, forming this boundary, takes the place of the most persuasive argument. This is how the voodoo controversy joined the replication crisis

Argument (complex analysis · Epistemology · Functional magnetic resonance imaging · Neuroimaging · Power (physics · Replication (statistics · Sociology · Functional Brain Connectivity Studies · Medicine · Neurology and Historical Studies · Neuroscience · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Psychology

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access