World-Shaker

emergentfutures:

You Love Your iPhone. Literally

Paul Higgins: Interesting article on the effects of technology including:

(update - fixed link to full story from the New York Times. Thanks to http://hcyee67.tumblr.com/ for picking it up)

Earlier this year, I carried out an fMRI experiment to find out whether iPhones were really, truly addictive, no less so than alcohol, cocaine, shopping or video games. In conjunction with the San Diego-based firm MindSign Neuromarketing, I enlisted eight men and eight women between the ages of 18 and 25. Our 16 subjects were exposed separately to audio and to video of a ringing and vibrating iPhone.

In each instance, the results showed activation in both the audio and visual cortices of the subjects’ brains. In other words, when they were exposed to the video, our subjects’ brains didn’t just see the vibrating iPhone, they “heard” it, too; and when they were exposed to the audio, they also “saw” it. This powerful cross-sensory phenomenon is known as synesthesia.

But most striking of all was the flurry of activation in the insular cortex of the brain, which is associated with feelings of love and compassion. The subjects’ brains responded to the sound of their phones as they would respond to the presence or proximity of a girlfriend, boyfriend or family member

Full Story: New York Times

o_O

AI Project Funded By Google Wants to Teach Computers Regret →

Does anyone else read articles like this and think, “Well, time to start stocking up on ammunition for the robot war with mankind?”