FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 20, 2005

CONTACT: Daniel P. Finney, (515) 271-2833, daniel.finney@drake.edu

NEW ‘DISCOVERIES’ RELATED TO MORAL CENTERS OF THE BRAIN ARE FLAWED, DRAKE PSYCHOLOGY PROFESSOR TO ARGUE

Steven F. Faux, Drake University associate professor of psychology, believes recent neuroscience research that claims to have located centers of morality in the brain is flawed and adds little to our scientific understanding of behavior.

New studies, using technology called functional magnetic resonance imaging, show colorful pictures of the human brain with red dots allegedly marking the spots where moral decisions are influenced. Faux, a psychologist who came to Drake from Harvard Medical School, however, argues the studies are misleading – a stand only a handful of psychologists and scientists are taking nationwide.

“All this gives you is a very beautiful picture with some dots on it,” Faux said. “And it may not be any more significant than that.”

Faux will present his controversial opinions on the current brain studies as part of the Stalnaker Lecture Series at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 25, in Sheslow Auditorium in Old Main, 2507 University Ave. The lecture is free and open to the public.

During one of the studies, participants were asked questions about various moral decisions, such as whether they would stop to help a bleeding person by the side of the road or whether they would donate money to charity to help starving children.

Neuroscientists monitor the brain using functional MRI technology, which takes a snapshot of where oxygen-rich blood is being distributed in the brain. The studies claim those snapshots map the portions of the brain used in making high-level decisions, such as morality.

Faux, by contrast, believes that functional MRI technology is too slow to accurately capture meaningful data on moral decision-making. It takes about 6 seconds for the brain to allocate blood to an area after a major event – such as making a moral decision.

The fastest functional MRI technology can take a snapshot of brain activity only once every two seconds – which is not fast enough to track actual neural activity, because nerves impulses travel at about 100 meters per second. Further, by looking only at certain “hot spots” in the brain, Faux said, the research discounts the remainder of the brain that may be just as critical in decision-making.

“Functional MRI provides less information than a still picture of traffic patterns on a freeway,” Faux said. “A brain map might tell us the neural freeway is being used at a specific location, but we still will not know precisely when the neural traffic occurred, the speed of the neural traffic or even the direction of the traffic.”

A Drake psychology professor since 1990, Faux teaches courses in introductory psychology, sensation and perception, cognitive psychology, and occasional courses in the Drake Honors Program. He received his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Riverside, and his Ph.D from Brigham Young University. Prior to coming to Drake, Faux was an assistant professor of research psychology at Harvard Medical School, where he served for five years.

Faux has served as director of the honors program, and he is currently the chair of the psychology department. In 1995, he was named the Arts and Sciences Teacher of the Year and last spring, he won the Madelyn M. Levitt Excellence in Teaching award.

His major research interests revolve around the neural and behavioral correlates of the P300 event-related potential – a study of brain activity when responding to specific stimuli. He has published over 30 professional journal articles, primarily about brain wave correlates of cognition and brain disorder. He has presented numerous papers on neuroscience at national and international conventions. As an academic hobby, Faux enjoys studying the old pioneer trails of Iowa and the western United States, and he has made several national and regional presentations on that topic.

Faux’s talk will be the 12th Luther W. Stalnaker Lecture, named after a graduate of the College of Liberal Arts graduate, a former professor of philosophy and former dean of the College of the Liberal Arts, who was a beloved teacher who died in tragic automobile accident in 1954.

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