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RE: [xmca] Fwd: "The Tip of the Hippocampus"(!)



Thanks, Bella. I am always interested in  historical perspectives. The oversimplification of right versus left brain process and the confusion over hemispheric lateralization of function (not to mention confusion over what constitutes a function!) is a frequent topic we discuss in a course I teach for educators, too. I always ask them to start off with an inquiry they are interested in pursuing--often it is a bit of "brain porn" gone viral that worms its way into everyday practice. We have a strong dialog about how best to pursue these transdisciplinary inquires that manifest in various guises in a number of disciplines.

-----Original Message-----
From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] On Behalf Of Bella Kotik-Friedgut
Sent: Sunday, December 02, 2012 11:46 PM
To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
Subject: Re: [xmca] Fwd: "The Tip of the Hippocampus"(!)

Dear all
to add to this discussion: attached is a paper* * *Harris, L. 1985. Teaching the right brain: Historical perspective on a contemporary educational fad. In C.T. Best (Ed.), Hemispheric function and collaboration in the child. Orlando: Academic Press.* so the problem of misusing neuro- research data is not new. I like this paper and use it since then in neuropsychology course, which I am teaching now for educators.
BTW L.Harris visited Luria in 1975.
Bella Kotik-Friedgut


On Mon, Dec 3, 2012 at 1:49 AM, monica.hansen < monica.hansen@vandals.uidaho.edu> wrote:

> Mike,
> All I meant, Mike, is that it is not neuroscience that is bad or to 
> blame for the seductive quality of what passes for factual support of 
> opinion. I was joking about blaming the rhetoricians more than the neuroscientists.
>
> I am not a big fan of blame and/causal relationships, actually. I just 
> find it more productive as a person and as a teacher and as a 
> researcher to focus on activities in development and how they can be 
> influenced for the positive, knowing that the positive is sometimes 
> more or less easily defined.
>
> I don't know if there is a singular cause for the problem of crime or 
> poverty, and therefore, responsibility for something with multiple 
> layers of complexity, such as the individual development of a child in 
> a family/community of poverty, in larger community, in a government, 
> in a world, can't be ended by implicating a singular cause that can be 
> identified and put aside to make us all feel better about our luxuries.
> However, I do know that it is good for children to have food and 
> trusting, nurturing, social relationships. So I start there every day 
> with the children I have contact with in my life and work outward.
>
> Responsibility comes at all levels with the people who do or do not 
> choose to take responsibility and that includes neuroscientists and rhetoricians.
> It includes those who don't even realize the implications of their actions.
> It includes me.
>
> One of the books that I am appreciating right now for a 
> non-traditional view on neuroscience research is Jaak Panksepp's Archaelogy of the Mind.
> Panksepp is also the author of Affective Neuroscience and takes a more 
> compassionate approach to rats and children and still manages to 
> produce some viable bits of neuroscience.
>
> Let's keep going after these false arguments that don't serve to 
> clarify the actions of anyone who cares in regard to the well-being 
> and development of all children.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu] 
> On Behalf Of mike cole
> Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2012 1:55 PM
> To: eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity
> Subject: Re: [xmca] Fwd: "The Tip of the Hippocampus"(!)
>
> Monika--
>
> One prominent developmental neuroscientist I quote somewhere likens 
> the environments of poor kids to rats in cages in isolation.
>
> Who do I turn to looking for responsibility for such voluntarily 
> offered opinions, back by the authority of "developmental science" in 
> venues that affect public policy including the treatment of poor kids 
> and their families?
>
> mike
>
> On Tue, Nov 27, 2012 at 7:30 AM, Huw Lloyd <huw.softdesigns@gmail.com
> >wrote:
>
> > On 27 November 2012 15:11, monica.hansen
> > <monica.hansen@vandals.uidaho.edu>wrote:
> >
> > > This is my favorite quote of this piece, Mike: "Neuroscience has 
> > > joined company with other totalizing worldviews - Marxism, 
> > > Freudianism, critical theory - that have been victim to overuse 
> > > and
> misapplication."
> > >
> > > I also like the term "brain porn".
> > >
> > > I don't think it is the fault of neuroscientists, however, that 
> > > everyone wants to jump on the bandwagon and use what passes for 
> > > the most respected form of evidence. I think that little bit of 
> > > wanting to formulate an argument with proper support has to go to 
> > > the
> rhetoricians.
> > >
> > >
> > And behind the rhetoricians lie the readers.
> >
> > Huw
> >
> >
> >
> > > Monica
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From: xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu
> > > [mailto:xmca-bounces@weber.ucsd.edu]
> > On
> > > Behalf Of mike cole
> > > Sent: Sunday, November 25, 2012 10:51 AM
> > > To: eXtended Mind, Culture,Activity
> > > Subject: [xmca] Fwd: "The Tip of the Hippocampus"(!)
> > >
> > > This article from the NY Times was forwarded it to me. I thought 
> > > it might be of interest to others on the list.
> > > mike
> > >
> > >
> > > Date: 2012/11/25
> > > Subject: "The Tip of the Hippocampus"(!)
> > >
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--
Sincerely yours Bella Kotik-Friedgut

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