Feb 19 2009
A Beautiful Find
I do my share of criticizing what I see as poor science (more often, poor science reporting in the form of an exaggeration of the meaning of results). But in order to point out what is lesser, a person should know the better. And perhaps point it out from time to time.
Psychology is a difficult field of study because, for a start, it is often impossible to define and measure your variables simply and directly. Recent research into the symptoms of schizophrenia has impressed me in a good way.
In Decoding Funny Faces To Detect Mental Illness I read -
Prof. Hendler’s findings, published recently in the journal Human Brain Mapping, showed that when presented with photographs of emotional faces with “bizarre” characteristics, the brains of schizophrenic patients were much less reactive than established norms.
This is no survey, no statistical finding. Hendler conducted an experiment with clearly defined variables and made a finding . . . one that could result in the ability to better predict a person developing schizophrenia before they hit the typical age of onset (18-30 years old). Cool.
The bizarre faces (a sample visible on the link above) consisted of faces with inverted mouths and eyes — two body parts the normal human brain keys into for important information. In a little more detail we read -
In her previous research published in the journal Neuron, when shown a bizarre “funny face”, healthy minds respond with selective activity within the brain, sounding the alarm that there is something disturbing about the image. Prof Hendler then posited that although this selective response is found in visual areas, it has distributed effects in the brain; “The visual areas of the brain are highly connected to other areas, including the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala, but in schizophrenic patients, there is a diminished connection between the various parts, leading to disturbed integration of information — and thus to distorted experiences,” she says.
As for why this is could be very beneficial breakthrough -
An objective early marker of the disease would be especially useful for those already considered high risk, such as children with an immediate family member with the disease….
“Current drugs treat the abnormal behavior, not the brain disorder that is causing the behavior,” she says, “We want to be able to develop more specific treatments based on objective brain markers, which are the actual characteristics of the disease.” [Hendler]
With studies such as the above, the field of psychology is leaving the dark ages of pure myth, conjecture and guess behind.
