Crockusology

September 21, 2007 8:40 PM

How big is your crockus? In cutting edge neuroscience news, a new part of the brain has recently been identifed by the enigmatic Dr. Crockus. Described as "the detailed section of the brain, a part of the frontal lope," the crockus is apparently four times larger in females than in males, which is why girls see the details of experiences while boys see the whole but not the details.

Or just maybe the whole thing is a crock of shit.

MindHacks thinks there should be an award named for the esteemed doctor.

posted by homunculus (43 comments total)

Well that explains a lot.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 8:49 PM on September 21, 2007

the crockus is apparently four times larger in females than in males, which is why girls see the details of experiences while boys see the whole but not the details.

*rolls eyes*

We are very, very far away from being able to make these kinds of statements, IMO. You can tell that some part of the brain is "related" to some aspect of behavior, but an exact neurological cause is really stretching.
posted by delmoi at 8:52 PM on September 21, 2007

What a crockus of shit!
posted by papakwanz at 8:54 PM on September 21, 2007

What a crockus...
posted by trip and a half at 8:55 PM on September 21, 2007

Oh crap.
posted by trip and a half at 8:56 PM on September 21, 2007

Keep reading, delmoi. ;)
posted by homunculus at 9:00 PM on September 21, 2007 [2 favorites]

Ob. Mefi's Own: myl, aka Mark Liberman, who also recently wrote on the Language Log about this askme.
posted by cortex at 9:12 PM on September 21, 2007

Butthead: Check it out. It’s Krokus coming to kick their ass.
Beavis: Yeh. Heh-heh.
Butthead: It’s the night of the living bands that suck.
posted by Tube at 9:21 PM on September 21, 2007

Gee, that Dan Hodgins seems to be getting away with a lot of bs. yikes.

Simon Baron-Cohen, however, has done authentic research and written extensively on male-female brain differences.
posted by nickyskye at 9:31 PM on September 21, 2007

I can't stop laughing at this, but I realize the guy could actually do some harm if people in educational circles are buying this nonsense. Fortunately, it looks like people are getting savy to the crockus.
posted by homunculus at 9:38 PM on September 21, 2007

A bizarre, toothless coincidence: there's apparently a character named Crockus who appears in the Wheel of Time books of the very recently deceased author Robert Jordan.

Whether said character had anything to say about neuroscience is left for WoT fans to discuss.
posted by cortex at 9:47 PM on September 21, 2007

while boys see the whole but not the details.

Ah, but do they see the details of the whole?
posted by washburn at 9:49 PM on September 21, 2007

Is the crockus related in any way to Shatner's Bassoon?
posted by thatwhichfalls at 10:08 PM on September 21, 2007

Damn, I can't believe somebody beat me to Shatner's Bassoon. Either way... here's the relevant Brass Eye clip.

Also, with a name like "crockus" I can't help but think that this is some sort of joke.
posted by Kattullus at 10:28 PM on September 21, 2007

the crockus is apparently four times larger in females than in males

*wiggles her crockus in a dominant way*
posted by amyms at 10:35 PM on September 21, 2007 [1 favorite]

I love me some Krokus!


posted by bpm140 at 10:44 PM on September 21, 2007

Well crap, that was a lot funnier with the image.

(The live preview lied to me!)
posted by bpm140 at 10:45 PM on September 21, 2007

posted by amyms *wiggles her crockus in a dominant way*

*watches whole*
posted by fandango_matt at 10:48 PM on September 21, 2007

Wait, this isn't a joke by Mark Liberman? Someone is actually going around lecturing about a Crockus? This is funny and tragic at the same time.
posted by gubo at 11:05 PM on September 21, 2007

I hope there's some kind of resolution to this, e.g., he gets shown up as a huge fraud in front of a large audience.

Everyone should read language log!
posted by blacklite at 12:19 AM on September 22, 2007

via technorati via nickyskye's Google search. Recent blog post answering some questions about Hodgins' background and doings.

I've been following myl's intriguing Language Log posts about this. He's very talented at debunking things like this and has a very clear writing style. Some of the things he can pop off in an hour are amazing.

I get the feeling this Dan Hodgins' career is going to have some problems in the near future. Maybe rightly so. : )
posted by strangeguitars at 12:39 AM on September 22, 2007

He'll be in the Chicago area, October 3 and 4. (PDF calendar of Illinois STAR NET workshops)

Anyone have a free Monday or Tuesday afternoon?
posted by blacklite at 12:56 AM on September 22, 2007

Not that I support unhelpful harassment, but, uh, I also don't support spewing nonsense to well-meaning parents and educators.
posted by blacklite at 12:58 AM on September 22, 2007

What might be really fun is ginning up some very academic looking paper and having someone go ask him "is this it?" and have him say "oh! ... yes!" or just look very confused, or something. Maybe bury something low on page 5 about how Dan Hodgins is a fraud.

Hmmm. I should find a hobby.
posted by blacklite at 1:02 AM on September 22, 2007

Ah, but do they see the details of the whole?

That's pretty much all they see, which is, of course, the whole problem.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 1:02 AM on September 22, 2007

This is indeed bizarre. This page makes me wonder if he's been pimping the Crockus since as early as 2003? If you click on the "What About Those Boys" link, the summary points include the false statistic for larger female corpus callosum.

I'd love to know how long Dan has been rocking the Crockusaurus. And why.
posted by taz at 1:35 AM on September 22, 2007

Neuroscience as seen through one's toochis:
The lobe — modest man — he dubs crockus
"Explains" lack of XY perspective.
Chill, gents, and curb your invective;
Doc has plainly been hitting the Bacchus.
posted by rob511 at 1:50 AM on September 22, 2007

Thinking about this more... it occurs to me that Dan might be the victim of a prank. I wonder if someone rather wickedly fed him a Crockus, literally - contacting him with faked research info or something, just to see if he would take the bait without bothering to verify the material.

Otherwise, I just don't get why he would do it. Why would one endanger his (apparently rather successful) livelihood as a speaker/lecturer for the sake of a joke?
posted by taz at 2:30 AM on September 22, 2007

I've been popping in every hour or so because I was curious to see where this discussion goes, and I'll put in my two cents now: I think taz sniffed it out.

Dan's 'page' is especially loaded with simpleton 'boys are different/need help' pseudo-science.

Check these What About Those Boys 'facts':
-The resting female brain is more active than the activated male brain
-On the average females produce more words than males
-Males are better than females in bright lights
-Boys project emotions to outside space
-Males can go into a "cave" state for protection
-Boys do not talk about their feelings

And then the take home message: 'Adults are either Killing dendrites or Growing them!' Nice caps.

Somebody fed this fool a 'crockus hit'.
posted by toma at 3:53 AM on September 22, 2007

What makes me crazy is the way credulous educators (especially boys' schools like the one where I work) are buying the whole bogus pop-neuro-psych line. Gah.
posted by Peach at 4:41 AM on September 22, 2007

How big is your crockus?

Well, uh, *sniff*, let's just say I've never had any complaints, if you know what I mean.
posted by Turtles all the way down at 5:17 AM on September 22, 2007

See how the information is evenly and tidily stored.
posted by flabdablet at 6:53 AM on September 22, 2007

I'll be damned if have to crack open my skull to prove this theory wrong but in the name of science, here goes.........
Ouchies! My bad.
posted by doctorschlock at 7:00 AM on September 22, 2007

I saw the crescent. You saw the whole of the moon.

Nah, nah nah naaaaaaaahhhhhh. etc.
posted by fefofifum at 10:37 AM on September 22, 2007

I am Crockus. Now it can be told.
posted by ikkyu2 at 10:58 AM on September 22, 2007

"Frontal lope"? Is that like a jackalope?
posted by jiawen at 11:16 AM on September 22, 2007

it was pretty big at one point but it's still mostly known for covering heart
posted by maus at 12:44 PM on September 22, 2007

God, I can't believe anyone believes this. it's really sad that we are raising generations of scientifically illiterate teachers and students. Unfortunately, it's really easy to get nonsense into schools: the Scientologists taught drug education in California for years before anyone thought to question the idea that the body stores drugs and cravings occur because these toxins are released and when they come out, your skin can turn colors. Not to mention the continuing presence of DARE...
posted by Maias at 1:51 PM on September 22, 2007

What's funny as well is that brain regions aren't usually named after people-- there are Broca's and Wernicke's regions, but as you can see, then this should be Crockus' region.

Few people are finding "new" brain regions these days anyway-- in fact, there's apparently a neuroscience joke that if you think you have found something new, you should check Cajal's work because inevitably, he found it first in the late 1800's or so.

The regions with the funny names like the hippocampus (seahorse), amygdala (almond), locus ceruleus (blue spot) etc.
are named for what they look like, not who found them.

And then there are the numerically named cortical regions like Brodmann's area 5-- again, they aren't the "brodmann."
posted by Maias at 3:09 PM on September 22, 2007

numerically named cortical regions

I love it when you talk dirty.
posted by cortex at 3:17 PM on September 22, 2007

numerically named cortical regions

I love it when you talk dirty.

stimulated the old nucleus accumbens, eh?
posted by Maias at 6:08 AM on September 23, 2007

Love potion: No. 9
posted by flabdablet at 8:02 AM on September 23, 2007

Is the crockus related in any way to Shatner's Bassoon?

They're practically next-door neighbors!
posted by homunculus at 9:44 AM on September 23, 2007