Jump to content

Marc Hauser: Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Qworty (talk | contribs)
13,129 edits
→‎Biography: rm unsourced
Qworty (talk | contribs)
13,129 edits
rm unsourced
Line 5: Line 5:
Hauser's research lies at the intersection of [[evolutionary biology]] and [[cognitive neuroscience]]. It was aimed at understanding the processes and consequences of cognitive evolution. Observations and experiments focused on nonhuman animals and humans of different ages and mental competence, incorporating methodological procedures and theoretical insights from ethology, infant cognitive development, evolutionary theory, cognitive neuroscience and neurobiology. Foci include: studies of language evolution, the nature of moral judgments, the development and evolution of mathematical representations, comparative studies of economic-like choice, the precursors to musical competence, and the nature of event perception. One of his research projects was the internet-based 'The Moral Sense Test' in which the participant is presented with a series of hypothetical moral dilemmas and is asked to offer a judgment regarding each one.<ref>http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~mnkylab/LPPI.html</ref>
Hauser's research lies at the intersection of [[evolutionary biology]] and [[cognitive neuroscience]]. It was aimed at understanding the processes and consequences of cognitive evolution. Observations and experiments focused on nonhuman animals and humans of different ages and mental competence, incorporating methodological procedures and theoretical insights from ethology, infant cognitive development, evolutionary theory, cognitive neuroscience and neurobiology. Foci include: studies of language evolution, the nature of moral judgments, the development and evolution of mathematical representations, comparative studies of economic-like choice, the precursors to musical competence, and the nature of event perception. One of his research projects was the internet-based 'The Moral Sense Test' in which the participant is presented with a series of hypothetical moral dilemmas and is asked to offer a judgment regarding each one.<ref>http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~mnkylab/LPPI.html</ref>


== Educational achievements ==
According to his résumé, Hauser won several teaching awards at Harvard. He was awarded a Harvard College Professor in 1998 for distinction in teaching and advising students, and was voted the most popular teacher among Harvard undergraduates in 2001, 2003 and 2008. From 1992-2009 he taught one of the most popular science core classes Evolution and Human Nature (Science B29) with Irv Devore and then with Richard Wrangham. Hauser was the advisor to many students in the field of animal cognition and moral psychology, including Tecumseh Fitch (University of Vienna), Laurie Santos (Yale University), Asif Ghazanfar (Princeton University), Jerald Kralik (Dartmouth College), Cory Miller (UCSD), Fiery Cushman (Brown University), and Liane Young (Boston College).

== Scientific achievements ==
Hauser authored over 200 papers in refereed scientific journals, as well as three single-authored books and three multi-authored books. His contributions range from empirical studies of free-living primates to studies of neuropsychological patients, covering topics such as mathematical reasoning, tool use, language evolution, cooperation, and moral psychology. In addition to his empirical contributions, he has made theoretical contributions in the study of both language evolution (papers co-authored with Noam Chomsky) and moral psychology (his book ''Moral Minds'' developed the thesis, originating with John Rawls and more recently, John Mikhail, that there is a moral organ generating a moral grammar of intuitive responses).

== Scientific misconduct ==
In August 2010 it was announced that Hauser had decided to take a year's leave of absence from Harvard, after a three-year internal investigation found him solely responsible for eight counts of [[scientific misconduct]]. The details of this investigation were not publicly released (which is common for most universities, including Harvard), and the lack of transparency evoked substantial speculation. Writing in the ''[[New York Times]]'', [[Nicholas Wade]] summarized:
In August 2010 it was announced that Hauser had decided to take a year's leave of absence from Harvard, after a three-year internal investigation found him solely responsible for eight counts of [[scientific misconduct]]. The details of this investigation were not publicly released (which is common for most universities, including Harvard), and the lack of transparency evoked substantial speculation. Writing in the ''[[New York Times]]'', [[Nicholas Wade]] summarized:


Revision as of 01:56, 5 April 2013

Marc Hauser sitting between Jon Meacham (far left) and Daniel Dennett (center), World Science Festival

Marc D. Hauser (born 25 October 1959) is an American evolutionary biologist and a researcher in primate behavior, animal cognition and human behavior. Hauser was a Harvard University professor from 1992 to 2011, regarded as "a leader in the field of animal and human cognition".[1] In 2011, the university found him guilty of scientific misconduct and he resigned.[2] Because his research was financed by government grants, the US Office of Research Integrity also opened an investigation. In 2012, the investigators concluded that Hauser was guilty of research misconduct: in particular he fabricated data for one study and falsified the results of others.[3]

Hauser's research lies at the intersection of evolutionary biology and cognitive neuroscience. It was aimed at understanding the processes and consequences of cognitive evolution. Observations and experiments focused on nonhuman animals and humans of different ages and mental competence, incorporating methodological procedures and theoretical insights from ethology, infant cognitive development, evolutionary theory, cognitive neuroscience and neurobiology. Foci include: studies of language evolution, the nature of moral judgments, the development and evolution of mathematical representations, comparative studies of economic-like choice, the precursors to musical competence, and the nature of event perception. One of his research projects was the internet-based 'The Moral Sense Test' in which the participant is presented with a series of hypothetical moral dilemmas and is asked to offer a judgment regarding each one.[4]

In August 2010 it was announced that Hauser had decided to take a year's leave of absence from Harvard, after a three-year internal investigation found him solely responsible for eight counts of scientific misconduct. The details of this investigation were not publicly released (which is common for most universities, including Harvard), and the lack of transparency evoked substantial speculation. Writing in the New York Times, Nicholas Wade summarized:

There is a wide spectrum of scientific sins, ranging from wrist-slap offenses like bad data storage at one end, to data fabrication at the other. It is still not clear where on this spectrum Dr. Hauser’s errors may fall. He has admitted only to unspecified "mistakes," not to misconduct.[5]

In July 2011, after the Psychology Department faculty voted to bar Hauser from teaching in the upcoming academic year, Hauser resigned his faculty position at Harvard effective August 1, 2011.[6] In his resignation, Hauser stated that he had "some exciting opportunities in the private sector" involving education for high-risk teenagers, but that he might go back to academia "in the years to come."[7]

Following an investigation, the Office of Research Integrity of the National Institutes of Health announced in September 2012 that Hauser was guilty of scientific misconduct.[8] The investigators concluded that Hauser had fabricated data, manipulated results in multiple experiments, and incorrectly described how studies were conducted. The Office of Research Integrity (ORI) published final action against him a few days later, barring Hauser from certain types of research service and requiring that other research be conducted under supervision.[9]

A Notice by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department on Sept. 6, 2012 states this:

Notice is hereby given that the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) has taken final action in the following case: Marc Hauser, Ph.D., Harvard University: ORI found that Dr. Marc Hauser … engaged in research misconduct in research supported by

  • National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)
  • National Institutes of Health (NIH), grants P51 RR00168-37 and CM-5-P40 RR003640-13,
  • National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), NIH, grant 5 R01 DC005863
  • National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), NIH, grant 5 F31 MH075298.[10]

Officially released information

On August 20, 2010, the dean of Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences released a statement confirming that an internal investigation had found Hauser guilty of eight counts of scientific misconduct.[11] Three counts involved published papers, and five involved unpublished studies. The statement said that Harvard was cooperating with further investigations by the US Office of Research Integrity, the National Science Foundation Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. They stated that they would conduct their own review and make their conclusions available to the public.[12]

A 2002 paper published in the journal Cognition was retracted.[13][14] In this paper, Hauser and his collaborators concluded that cotton-top tamarin monkeys could learn simple rule-like patterns. In two additional published papers, some field notes or video recordings were "incomplete", although Hauser and his co-author replicated the experiments.[15][16] The Proceedings of the Royal Society published the replication of the missing data in an addendum to one of the papers.[16] In April 2011 Hauser and Justin Wood (coauthor of the original paper) replicated the results of the 2007 Science study and published them—as an addendum—in the journal.[17][18] Several other successful replications of Hauser's works can be found in literature.[19]

Additional allegations

In addition to the official findings cited above, various publications have relayed more specific accusations.

Unnamed scientists in the field have claimed that Harvard decided to investigate Hauser's lab after students who had worked there made allegations of data falsification.[20]

Michael Tomasello, another well-known animal cognition researcher, claimed that some of Hauser's previous students personally told him that there "was a pattern and they had specific evidence ”.[21] Tomasello also stated, prior to the official announcement, that he had information from "a Harvard faculty member and from former students of Dr. Hauser" that the investigation found evidence for eight counts of scientific misconduct;[21] this statement was later confirmed by Harvard's dean (see previous section).[22]

On August 19, 2010, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported the contents of allegations made by a former research assistant of Hauser. The former research assistant stated that Hauser falsely coded videotapes of monkey behavior, resisted his research assistants and students' requests to have them recoded by another observer and then pressured his students to accept his data analysis. When they went ahead and recoded the data without Hauser's permission, they allegedly found that Hauser's coding bore little relation to what was on the tapes. According to the document, several other lab members had similar run-ins with Hauser.[23]

Other commentary

While Harvard confirmed that misconduct was committed by Hauser, scientists continued to criticize Harvard over a lack of transparency in the investigation. However, Harvard stated that “in cases where the government concludes scientific misconduct occurred, the federal agency makes those findings publicly available.”[24]

Gerry Altmann, the editor of Cognition, subsequently posted his personal conclusion that Hauser fabricated data as part of a deception, after being given a summary of the relevant portions of Harvard's inquiry.[25][26][27][28] Altmann noted that the conclusion of fabrication was his own conjecture, and not that of the Harvard investigation, which offered no explanation for discrepancies between the video record and the published paper.[25]

Although Hauser took a year-long leave of absence from Harvard, he was at first still being allowed to teach at the Harvard Extension School, which generated further controversy. On September 1, 2010, it was announced that Hauser's classes at the Extension School were canceled.[29] On April 21, 2011, the Boston Globe reported that the Harvard Psychology faculty voted to bar Hauser from teaching in the 2011-2012 academic year. Michael D. Smith, dean of the Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences, agreed and extended it to other Arts and Sciences departments.[30]

Previous controversy over an experiment

In 1995, Hauser reported that cotton-top tamarins can recognize themselves in a mirror.[31] Gordon G. Gallup questioned Hauser's findings, and reviewed some video recordings of Hauser's experiment, saying that “when I played the videotapes [for Hauser's experiments], there was not a thread of compelling evidence — scientific or otherwise — that any of the tamarins had learned to correctly decipher mirrored information about themselves.’’[13] Upon requesting the remaining videotapes, Gallup was informed that the other tapes had been stolen.[32] Together with Anderson, Gallup published a critical response to Hauser's article.[33] Their criticism of Hauser's paper stated that the coding criteria were described in insufficient detail to code the monkeys' behavior and that, according to their assessment, the cotton-top tamarins did not show the behavior that they considered as evidence for mirror recognition in chimpanzees or other great apes.[33]

Hauser and a co-author published a reply to these criticisms, clarifying their coding criteria and responding to the other criticisms.[34] However, Hauser reported that his subsequent attempts to replicate the experiments were unsuccessful, observing no evidence for the previously claimed result.[35]

Bibliography

References

  1. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/21/education/21harvard.html
  2. ^ http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/9/14/hauser-lab-research-professor/
  3. ^ http://blogs.nature.com/news/2012/09/marc-hauser-admits-to-errors-as-us-government-finds-misconduct.html
  4. ^ http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/~mnkylab/LPPI.html
  5. ^ Wade, Nicholas (20 August 2010). "Harvard Finds Scientist Guilty of Misconduct". New York Times.
  6. ^ Kumar, Gautam (July 19, 2011). "Embattled Professor Marc Hauser Will Resign from Harvard". Harvard Crimson. Retrieved October 27, 2011. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Bartlett, Tom (July 19, 2011). "Marc Hauser Resigns From Harvard". Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved October 27, 2011.
  8. ^ Johnson, C., 2012. Former Harvard professor Marc Hauser fabricated, manipulated data, US says Boston Globe [online] 5 September [Accessed 12 September 2012]
  9. ^ NIH, 2012. Findings of Research Misconduct Press release, 10 September 2012 [Accessed 12 September 2012]
  10. ^ https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/09/06/2012-21992/findings-of-research-misconduct
  11. ^ "FAS Dean Smith Confirms Scientific Misconduct by Marc Hauser". Harvard Magazine. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  12. ^ "Harvard Confirms 'Hausergate'". Chronicle of Higher Education. 2010-08-12. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  13. ^ a b Johnson, Carolyn (August 10, 2010). "Author on leave after Harvard inquiry". Boston Globe.
  14. ^ "Monkey business? 2002 Cognition paper retracted as prominent psychologist Marc Hauser takes leave from Harvard". RetractionWatch. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  15. ^ Wade, Nicholas (August 12, 2010). "Inquiry on Harvard Lab Threatens Ripple Effect". New York Times.
  16. ^ a b Hauser MD, Wood JN (2011). "Replication of 'Rhesus monkeys correctly read the goal-relevant gestures of a human agent'". Proc. Biol. Sci. 278 (1702): 158–9. doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.1441. PMC 2992735. PMID 21155189.
  17. ^ Miller, Greg (25 April 2011). "Science Publishes Replication of 2007 Hauser Study". Science. Retrieved 3 May 2011.
  18. ^ Attention: This template ({{cite doi}}) is deprecated. To cite the publication identified by doi:10.1126/science.1144663, please use {{cite journal}} (if it was published in a bona fide academic journal, otherwise {{cite report}} with |doi=10.1126/science.1144663 instead.
  19. ^ http://hauserreplications.blogspot.com/
  20. ^ Aldhous, Peter (20 August 2010). "Misconduct probe in Harvard animal morality lab". New Scientist.
  21. ^ a b Wade, Nicholas (August 13, 2010). "In Inquiry at Marc Hauser's Harvard Lab, a Raid and Then a 3-Year Wait". New York Times. p. 2.
  22. ^ "Updated: Harvard says Marc Hauser guilty of science misconduct". USA Today. 2010-08-20. Retrieved 2010-08-26.
  23. ^ "Document Sheds Light on Investigation at Harvard". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 2010-08-21.
  24. ^ http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/education/13harvard.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1348741556-BD4rXkNWm/ABwDH794ZTlA
  25. ^ a b Altmann, Gerry. "Harvard misconduct: setting the record straight". Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  26. ^ Miller, Greg (2010-08-27). "Journal Editor Says He Believes Retracted Hauser Paper Contains Fabricated Data". Science Insider. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  27. ^ Johnson, Carolyn (2010-08-27). "Journal editor questions Harvard researcher's data". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  28. ^ Wade, Nicholas (2010-08-27). "Harvard Researcher May Have Fabricated Data". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-08-27.
  29. ^ Johnson, Carolyn Y. (2010-09-01). "Citing misconduct inquiry, Harvard professor cancels classes". The Boston Globe.
  30. ^ "Embattled Harvard professor barred from teaching". The Boston Globe.
  31. ^ Hauser, M (1995). "Self-recognition in primates: Phylogeny and the salience of species-typical features". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 92 (23): 10811–10814. doi:10.1073/pnas.92.23.10811. PMC 40702. PMID 7479889. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  32. ^ "Scientific misconduct: Monkey business?". Economist. 2010-08-26. Retrieved 2010-08-28.
  33. ^ a b Anderson JR, Gallup jr GG (1997) Self-recognition in Saguinus? A critical essay Anim Behav 54 (6):1563-7. PMID: 9521801
  34. ^ Hauser, MD (1997). "Life beyond the mirror: a reply to Anderson & Gallup". Animal Behaviour. 54 (6): 1568–1571. doi:10.1006/anbe.1997.0549. PMID 9521802. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  35. ^ Hauser, Marc (2001). "Cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) fail to show mirror-guided self-exploration". American Journal of Primatology. 53 (3): 131–137. doi:10.1002/1098-2345(200103)53:3<131::AID-AJP4>3.0.CO;2-X. PMID 11253848. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Marc_Hauser&oldid=548763923"