Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999 09:17:20 +0200
From: "Gatherer, D. (Derek)" <D.Gatherer@organon.nhe.akzonobel.nl>
Subject: RE: Inernal meme?
To: "'memetics@mmu.ac.uk'" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk>
Aaron:
I think I did grasp your point. What you say above merely clarifies what I
said before: that the Isenberg et al study should be seen as *evidence*,
not *proof* of an internal meme. I would be willing to bet that Isenberg et
al would find a nearly universal non-reaction by subjects who were never
previously exposed to English threat words if they did an expanded
follow-up study to find out.
Derek:
Okay, threat words in English aren't threat words to people in China,
because such sounds are not part of their environment. Isn't that just a
trivially true? In what way is the amygdalar pattern 'evidence' of an
internal meme at all? Surely it's just an environmental response?
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