The human brain does complicated things in complicated ways that no one understands. You can think up complicated new ideas about how to do complicated tests to measure some of those complications. A new study seems to do exactly that. The study invents “a new form of logic, dual logic.” The study is:
“Dual Logic and Cerebral Coordinates for Reciprocal Interaction in Eye Contact,” Ray F. Lee, PLoS ONE 10(4), 2015, e0121791. The author, at Princeton University, explains:
“In order to scientifically study the human brain’s response to face-to-face social interaction, the scientific method itself needs to be reconsidered so that both quantitative observation and symbolic reasoning can be adapted to the situation where the observer is also observed. In light of the recent development of dyadic fMRI which can directly observe dyadic brain interacting in one MRI scanner, this paper aims to establish a new form of logic, dual logic, which provides a theoretical platform for deductive reasoning in a complementary dual system with emergence mechanism. Applying the dual logic in the dfMRI experimental design and data analysis, the exogenous and endogenous dual systems in the BOLD responses can be identified; the non-reciprocal responses in the dual system can be suppressed; a cerebral coordinate for reciprocal interaction can be generated.”
Here’s further detail from the study:
(Thanks to Ellen Gomes for bringing this to our attention.)
BONUS: The “Dual Logic” study stuffs two people’s heads into one MRI scanner. An alternative approach, of sorts, is described in the CNN report “Are human head transplants coming soon?”
BONUS: On the simpler hand (or whatever): To study a brain mystery, you could try to ride a bicycle.
BONUS: Or you could set out to study something simple: immorality.