My crockus is huge!

Findings from neuroscience research are occasionally abused to make claims that go well beyond what the findings support. This morning, I stumbled onto a posting on Language Log (via Metafilter) about a community college instructor named Dan Hodgins who has given at least one talk in which he discussed a brain region called the "crockus". According to what I can gather from the Language Log posts, and other related posts around the Web, Hodgins has been telling educators that the crockus is larger in males than in females, and that this size disparity apparently accounts for the tendency for males to see the big picture but miss the details, and for females to see details but miss the big picture. I'm not sure where idea of the details-versus-big-picture difference come from, or whether it's a real sex difference, but I, like others, am pretty sure that I've never heard of the crockus. I haven't taken a class that dealt with brain physiology for over 10 years, but I know my major (and many minor) brain regions.

Well, others who are more motivated than I have begun to dig into the mystery of the crockus (much of my information here is from a series of follow-up posts on Language Log, here, here, and here). Mark Liberman (one of the Language Log bloggers) got in touch with Hodgins, and learned that the crockus was apparently discovered by a Dr. Alfred Crockus from Boston Medical University Hospital. Unfortunately, Liberman has searched around and it appears that Dr. Crockus does not exist, just like his eponymous brain region. This has not, however, stopped Hodgins from making the same claim about the crockus region again, as noted in a new post on Language Log this morning.

I looked around a bit myself, and have found that Hodgins is apparently real, so this is not a prank that Liberman, along with various colleagues, is playing; Liberman has e-mailed Hodgins and gotten responses that have been vaguely helpful. Hodgins appears on several PDF documents on the Mott Community College website, which collectively give an idea of the various roles he's played there. He's listed as an Early Childhood Education faculty member. Curiously, Hodgins is not listed in the MCC directory, although this could be a personal preference (for example, University of Arkansas professors are given the option to be de-listed partially or fully from the directory). There are references to talks that Hodgins has given, and is scheduled to give (PDF file, >1MB); actually, he's got talks scheduled quite far into the future. And there's even a picture of him on one site.

I cannot speculate on Hodgins' intentions in spreading what appears to be misinformation to a likely highly-credulous audience (i.e., early-childhood educators); pretty brain pictures make for better evidence among those without neuroscience training; see here and here, too). Several folks have speculated that Hodgins may be the victim of someone pulling his leg. (Dr. Crockus!? C'mon!) Whatever the case, one can only hope that Hodgins is stopped before he misinforms again.

In the meantime, keep your eyes peeled for egregious use of neuroscientific data, and let the folks at Mind Hacks know if you've got a candidate for the Dr. Alfred Crockus Award for the Misuse of Neuroscience. And keep your browers pointed toward Language Log to see how this plays out. I think that Liberman will pursue this little episode as long as it has legs, and it should be entertaining.

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