Neuromythologies. - Review - book review

Mind Myths: Exploring Popular Assumptions About the Mind and Brain. Edited by Sergio Della Sala. John Wiley and Sons, New York, 2000. ISBN 0-471-98303-9. 291 pp. Paperback, $38.95.

The human brain is perhaps the most fundamental, mysterious, and magical organ in the universe. It is the origin of thought, speech, movement, perception, music, and everything else that makes us human.

It is no wonder, then, that many myths and misperceptions have arisen surrounding the mind and brain. From information on how much of our brain we use to what the right and left hemispheres do, many people are quick to proffer fallacious "facts" gleaned from advertisements or backyard conversations. Mind Myths addresses these assumptions and many more.

From trendy "smart bars" hawking "memory boost" drinks to gadgets claiming to increase brain power, there is no shortage of unproven therapies to drain the wallets of uninformed consumers. Just pop a pill, down a drink, or put on special goggles, we're told, and you'll be smarter, faster, and better than ever before.

It is important to note that many of the myths demolished here are not esoteric, finer-point misunderstandings among brain-behavior scientists. These myths need to be challenged because they frequently form the basis for further, even more misguided beliefs and pseudosciences. A rolling pebble of misunderstanding tends to pick up further mistakes, incorrect inferences, leaps of logic, and outright lies as it tumbles, soon becoming a giant snowball of misinformation.

For example, the myth that people only use 10 percent of their brains is used to promote psychic powers. The myth of extreme laterality of brain function is used to promote expensive (and bogus) personal achievement programs and books, promising to provide "whole brain learning." And the myth of a "body" or "mind" energy is used to support psychic powers and bogus therapies aimed at removing "energy blocks."

Readers will find many names familiar to the skeptical movement among the contributors, including Barry Beyerstein, James Randi, Elixabeth Loftus, and Massimo Polidoro. Each writes within his or her specialty to enlighten, entertain, and educate. The wide range of topics includes false memories, near-death experiences, placebo effects, and detecting psychic fraud.

In his chapter on hypnosis, Graham F. Wagstaff provides an eminently understandable definition (and demystification) of hypnosis: "any set of instructions or procedures that invite the subject to enact the role of someone who is 'hypnotized' as they understand the term. ..." He also deflates the view that hypnosis can be useful for enhancing memories of witnesses in police investigations. Graham points out that instead of boosting the accuracy of recall, hypnosis only encourages a more lax criterion for reporting. Thus, "if any new information is produced, it is usually accompanied by an increase in incorrect information and an inflated level of confidence."

Explaining why popular assumptions are wrong frequently requires extensive discussion, and although the book at times gets technical, it rarely becomes laborious (although chapter 5, on near-death experiences, is a little tough going). The text gives thorough explanations and arms skeptics with more than enough information to challenge these mind myths wherever they may occur, be they about psychic claims or in an otherwise informed argument on left-and right-brain functions.

Many fascinating tidbits are to be found in the pages of Mind Myths. For example, at one point it was thought that Egyptians were mostly left-handed because of the right profiles found in their drawings. And the brain duality paradigm is apparently a cyclical phenomenon, one that had a heyday in the late 1800s--long before modern medicine could tease out the truth one way or the other.

The book's most glaring flaw is its illustrations. Interspersed with diagrams and charts are over two dozen cartoons depicting various mind myths. The art is painfully amateurish, and detracts from the credibility of the important, scholarly work surrounding it.

As the contributors of this remarkable book freely admit, there is much we don't know about the mind and brain. It is perhaps all the more important that we be sure of what we do know and not allow a "hijacking" of good science by the misinformed.

Benjamin Radford is a writer and managing editor of the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER. He wrote on the myth that people only use 10 percent of their brains in the March/April 1999 issue.

COPYRIGHT 2000 Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group