In the name of science, three members of Dr Gallant's team each endured two sessions of fMRI while watching assorted film trailers.

ECONOMIST: Reading the brain

Seventeen participants who had little or no music training took part in this study which, like Salimpoor's, is small, but typical for an fMRI study.

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Saygin and colleagues published a study last year using functional magnetic resonance imagining (fMRI), looking at what's happening in the brain that might explain the uncanny valley phenomenon.

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But studies using fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) can show what's happening in the brain.

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Using a technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the researchers were able to record the brain's activity in response to internal and external stimuli such as eating and drinking.

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The professor of Psychology at University College London, Rachel Blass, argues that it's quite wrong to dismiss people's feelings or emotions simply because these don't show up well in an fMRI scan.

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