On supporting evidence
2015-05-27 16:04:11.342742+00 by Dan Lyke 0 comments
Dorothy Bishop: An analysis of the evidence for adverse consequences of the internet cited on Susan Greenfield's website. Apparently Susan Greenfield has been claiming some sort of link between Internet use and autism. Dorothy Bishop goes through the "500 peer-reviewed papers" that are alleged to support this, and finds:
The list can be downloaded from here: its not exactly a systematic review. I counted 395 distinct items, but only a small proportion are peer-reviewed papers that find evidence of adverse effects from digital technology. There are articles from the Daily Mail and reports by pressure groups. There are some weird things that seem to have found their way onto the list by accident, such as a report on the global tobacco epidemic, and another from Department of Work and Pensions on differences in life expectancy for 20-, 50- and 80-year-olds. I must confess I did not read these cover to cover, but a link with 'mind change' was hard to see. Of the 234 peer-reviewed papers, some are reports on internet trends that contain nothing about adverse consequences, some are straightforward studies of neuroplasticity that dont feature the internet, and others are of uncertain relevance. ...