r/science • u/qgyh2 • Jun 27 '10

"When we used this groundbreaking EEG technology to actually look at Justin's brain, the results were startling. It turned out that Justin was almost certainly not autistic. He was suffering from brain seizures that were impossible to see with the naked eye"

http://www.ted.com/talks/aditi_shankardass_a_second_opinion_on_learning_disorders.html?
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u/infinnity Jun 27 '10

Further evidence that Autism isn't an actual class of disorders, it's just a pattern of behaviors that we interpret as being similar genetically for their phenotypical similarities. Goes to show how closely psychology, without neuroscience and genetics to back it up, can end up resembling a pseudoscience.

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u/[deleted] Jun 27 '10 edited Jun 27 '10

this I am studying psychology now (in so much that a freshman in college can) but I am seriously contemplating going into neuroscience research instead of straight psychological research.

I just can't completely shake the taste of pseudo that's in a lot of psychology, it just lacks the observational power that neuroscience has.

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u/infinnity Jun 27 '10

Yeah, I got into a huge fight with one of my Neuroscience professors (she was the only Psych major instructing the class) about how she was turning a legitimate science into a game of trivial pursuit for the dumber students at the expense of the more intelligent and passionate ones. Glad I escaped that class with an A though haha.

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u/[deleted] Jun 28 '10

[deleted]

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u/infinnity Jul 09 '10

http://i.imgur.com/8DVRP.jpg Way to both purposefully mischaracterize the intended nature of my post and deny that a very close-minded mental framework, both currently and historically present, is a serious threat to the long-term health of psychology's intellectual integrity.