NCKU hosts workshop for social study on fMRI application
Tainan, Taiwan, Feb. 5, 2013
National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), southern Taiwan, hosts a national workshop for the theoretical contribution of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to neuroscience and social science, Feb. 5-6.
The two-day workshop brings together the expertise of more than 250 scientists, social scientists, and humanities scholars from universities in Taiwan. It provides a forum for rich discussion on controversies, and future directions as well as on interpretations of new methods.
Dr. Chih-Chin Ho, NCKU vice president and dean of College of Social Sciences, on behalf of President Hwung-Hweng Hwung, welcomes the quests and said that NCKU will set up fMRI devices in the Mind Research and Imaging (MRI) center in April with an aim to promote neuroscience research for social science researchers in Taiwan.
“The issues discussed in the two-day workshop will play the key role in developing future fMRI projects of the center,” according to Dr. Ho adding that with the help of fMRI technology, which allows researchers to decode brain activity, scientists may be capable to interpret the inclination of human behavior.
With the interdisciplinary efforts, NCKU attempts to apply the fMRI technology to not only verify human behavior but create new realm of studies, added NCKU Vice President Hong-Sen Yan, an engineering expert.
The workshop has started with the discussion on the research ethics in neuroscience led by Director Hua Tai of NCKU’s Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences.
Dr. Tai as the key member of NCKU Research Ethics Committee for Human Behavioral Sciences said that there are many developments in science and technology that give rise to ethical questions especially when fMRI is applied to do social science research and appropriate consent and protocol have to come up to meet the growing demand.
An intense social debate on the research ethics has triggered, highlighting the importance of high ethics standards for science and technology, according to Tai, and protection of human subjects of biomedical and behavioral research is the crucial concern for researchers who are interested in social science research involving human participants.
Dr. Timothy Lane from National Chengchi University gives a talk on Neuroscience and Consciousness. He said that most pre-scientific or common sense intuitions about consciousness are false. Neuroscience can help to a more accurately characterize and more adequately explain those phenomena of consciousness.
He also explains the theoretical contribution of fMRI to pain studies and the consciousness communication via fMRI, suggesting new avenues for research.
Dr. Hsueh-Chih Chen from Department of Education Psychology and Counseling, National Taiwan Normal University has used fMRI technology to identify the comprehension and elaboration processing of verbal jokes. He suggests that humor comprehension and feeling of amusement are closely related to certain brain regions.
Dr. Chih-Chang Meng from Department of Political Science, NCKU, talks about the correlation between political orientations and brain structure and the new development of political science related to cognitive neuroscience.
More fMRI-based studies will be presented, Feb. 6, by Dr. Jen-Chuen Hsieh from the Institute of Brain Science, National Yang-Ming University (NYMU), Dr. Chiao-Yun Chen from Laboratories for Cognitive Neuroscience, NYMU, and Dr. Shih-Wei Wu and Dr. Wen-Jui Kuo from the Institute of Neuroscience, NYMU.
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National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), southern Taiwan, hosts a national workshop for the theoretical contribution of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to neuroscience and social science, Feb. 5-6.
The two-day workshop brings together the expertise of more than 250 scientists, social scientists, and humanities scholars from universities in Taiwan. It provides a forum for rich discussion on controversies, and future directions as well as on interpretations of new methods.
Dr. Chih-Chin Ho, NCKU vice president and dean of College of Social Sciences, on behalf of President Hwung-Hweng Hwung, welcomes the quests and said that NCKU will set up fMRI devices in the Mind Research and Imaging (MRI) center in April with an aim to promote neuroscience research for social science researchers in Taiwan.
“The issues discussed in the two-day workshop will play the key role in developing future fMRI projects of the center,” according to Dr. Ho adding that with the help of fMRI technology, which allows researchers to decode brain activity, scientists may be capable to interpret the inclination of human behavior.
With the interdisciplinary efforts, NCKU attempts to apply the fMRI technology to not only verify human behavior but create new realm of studies, added NCKU Vice President Hong-Sen Yan, an engineering expert.
The workshop has started with the discussion on the research ethics in neuroscience led by Director Hua Tai of NCKU’s Research Center for Humanities and Social Sciences.
Dr. Tai as the key member of NCKU Research Ethics Committee for Human Behavioral Sciences said that there are many developments in science and technology that give rise to ethical questions especially when fMRI is applied to do social science research and appropriate consent and protocol have to come up to meet the growing demand.
An intense social debate on the research ethics has triggered, highlighting the importance of high ethics standards for science and technology, according to Tai, and protection of human subjects of biomedical and behavioral research is the crucial concern for researchers who are interested in social science research involving human participants.
Dr. Timothy Lane from National Chengchi University gives a talk on Neuroscience and Consciousness. He said that most pre-scientific or common sense intuitions about consciousness are false. Neuroscience can help to a more accurately characterize and more adequately explain those phenomena of consciousness.
He also explains the theoretical contribution of fMRI to pain studies and the consciousness communication via fMRI, suggesting new avenues for research.
Dr. Hsueh-Chih Chen from Department of Education Psychology and Counseling, National Taiwan Normal University has used fMRI technology to identify the comprehension and elaboration processing of verbal jokes. He suggests that humor comprehension and feeling of amusement are closely related to certain brain regions.
Dr. Chih-Chang Meng from Department of Political Science, NCKU, talks about the correlation between political orientations and brain structure and the new development of political science related to cognitive neuroscience.
More fMRI-based studies will be presented, Feb. 6, by Dr. Jen-Chuen Hsieh from the Institute of Brain Science, National Yang-Ming University (NYMU), Dr. Chiao-Yun Chen from Laboratories for Cognitive Neuroscience, NYMU, and Dr. Shih-Wei Wu and Dr. Wen-Jui Kuo from the Institute of Neuroscience, NYMU.
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