title: Great expectations: what can fMRI research tell us about psychological phenomena?
abstract: Expectations for what functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can offer psychophysiology vary greatly. Overreaching enthusiasm such as the idea that fMRI can reveal lies and political attitudes are as common as the opinion that fMRI, in its current form, is useless for the advancement of psychological theories. Errors in the inferences being drawn from fMRI data may be contributing to each of these extreme positions, so the present paper addresses these several common inferential errors and describes some of the potential of fMRI for psychophysiological theory and research.
authors.affiliation: Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience, University of Chicago, United States; Swiss Center for Affective Sciences, University of Geneva, Switzerland. tatjana.aue@unige.ch
authors.forename: Tatjana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Aue
authors.forename: Leah A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Lavelle
authors.forename: John T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Cacioppo
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D010100:Oxygen / Q000097:blood; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012106:Research / Q000639:trends; D012107:Research Design
chemical_list: D010100:Oxygen