05 June 2008

From Today's New York Times

To the Editor:

Re “Monkeys Think, Moving Artificial Arm as Own” (front page, May 29):

The brain really is a fascinating organ. I was also intrigued to read that “in previous studies, researchers showed that humans who had been paralyzed for years could learn to control a cursor on a computer screen with their brain waves.”

So why were the monkeys used? It seems to me that the most fruitful route to go in this sort of research that could have very important implications for humans with severe motor deficits would be to study humans and leave the monkeys alone.

Marc Bekoff
Boulder, Colo., May 29, 2008
The writer is in the department of ecology and evolutionary biology, University of Colorado.

No comments: