Neurorealism

The term "neurorealism" was coined in 2005 by neuroscientists Eric Racine, Ofek Bar-Ilan, and Judy Illes. They noticed that media outlets were uncritical in their analysis of fMRI evidence in support of psychological processes, such as the relief from pain via acupuncture, political beliefs, and even pleasure from eating fatty foods. == In other research ==

Psychologist Scott Lilienfeld commented that neuro-realism has a potential to affect jurors in criminal trials with defendants afflicted with psychopathy. As a result, juries may place undue weight on brain imaging, even though differences in the brains of psychopaths and non-psychopaths do not necessarily imply that the differences are "congenital, immutable, or directly causative of behavioral deficits". According to Lilienfeld and others, arguments that psychopathic brain deficits negate criminal responsibility "require leaps" beyond scientific understanding, as brain activity during an unrelated activity does not explain a specific criminal act. Even among those diagnosed with psychopathy, criminal acts may reflect many factors beyond the personality disorder. Lilienfeld and his colleagues levied criticisms towards scientific journalism as a whole for engaging in "neurohype", or misrepresenting scientific findings, typically with words such as "breakthrough", "miracle", "cure", "revolutionary", "groundbreaking", and "marvel". ==See also==