Autism expert slams controversial fMRI paper
Remember the literature review claiming that most fMRI exams performed across two and a half decades were, unbeknownst to researchers relying on the findings, riddled with false positives due to deficient software systems?
Kevin Pelphrey, PhD, director of the Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders Institute at George Washington University, remembers the paper and the dustup it elicited very well.
Writing in the autism publication Spectrum, Pelphrey calls out the authors of the analysis for subsequently saying their conclusions were widely misinterpreted.
“[T]hey are the ones who stated that 40,000 studies were at stake,” Pelphrey writes.
“The reckless claim has already generated a lot of mistrust of our field,” he adds. “One of my students and several of my colleagues have reported receiving ill-informed comments from reviewers and journal editors such as ‘Doesn’t one have to be particularly careful with fMRI given that it usually provides false results?’”
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Dave P. has worked in journalism, marketing and public relations for more than 30 years, frequently concentrating on hospitals, healthcare technology and Catholic communications. He has also specialized in fundraising communications, ghostwriting for CEOs of local, national and global charities, nonprofits and foundations.