Comments on: Christopher deCharms: Looking inside the brain in real time

By: Homer

Homer — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:03:48 +0000

Isn’t this also called biofeedback? Wasn’t the generation before us (lets say in the 60’s) using biofeedback using high density EEG to make the same claims? If you don’t know history your doomed to (you get to?) repeat it!

By: anon

anon — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:39:17 +0000

Most of the clips I’ve seen at least include who the person is and what they do. Like I tried to say, there’s nothing inherently wrong with the talk, but people who view it might appreciate more context.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:17:04 +0000

That is not uncommon with the TED talks.

By: anon

anon — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 09:21:32 +0000

I think it’s necessary to add some context to this clip. deCharms owns a company, Omneuron (http://www.omneuron.com), that is looking to profit from the technology he is showing. While the technology is real, he’s definitely overplaying the originality and significance of his work. For example, most commercial MRI scanners already have a built in system that can display fMRI results from simple studies with a delay of less than 5s. His system probably allows slightly more complex study designs with perhaps a slightly shorter delay and allows the person in the scanner to see the results. This is a cool trick, but has yet to show definitive clinical benefits. He hints at one benefit, but I’ll wait until the clinical study that compares it to EEG based biofeedback or other standard treatments is released.I don’t want to downplay that this is something interesting and potentially useful, but since the clip was essentially a sale pitch, I felt that context might be relevant to people viewing it here.