Picturing personhood : brain scans and biomedical identity / Joseph Dumit.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dumit, Joseph, author.

Series:

In-formation series.

In-formation series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Brain--Tomography.

Brain.

Brain--Abnormalities.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (280 pages)

Place of Publication:

Princeton, New Jersey : Princeton University Press, [2004]

Summary:

By showing us the human brain at work, PET (positron emission tomography) scans are subtly--and sometimes not so subtly--transforming how we think about our minds. Picturing Personhood follows this remarkable and expensive technology from the laboratory into the world and back. It examines how PET scans are created and how they are being called on to answer myriad questions with far-reaching implications: Is depression an observable brain disease? Are criminals insane? Do men and women think differently? Is rationality a function of the brain? Based on interviews, media analysis, and participant observation at research labs and conferences, Joseph Dumit analyzes how assumptions designed into and read out of the experimental process reinforce specific notions about human nature. Such assumptions can enter the process at any turn, from selecting subjects and mathematical models to deciding which images to publish and how to color them. Once they leave the laboratory, PET scans shape social debates, influence courtroom outcomes, and have positive and negative consequences for people suffering mental illness. Dumit follows this complex story, demonstrating how brain scans, as scientific objects, contribute to our increasing social dependence on scientific authority. The first book to examine the cultural ramifications of brain-imaging technology, Picturing Personhood is an unprecedented study that will influence both cultural studies and the growing field of science and technology studies.

Contents:

Metaphors, histories, and visions of PET

Producing brain images of mind

Ways of seeing brains as expert images

Traveling images, popularizing brains

Conclusion : here is a PET image of a person that shows depression.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 187-233) and indexes.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780691113982

069111398X

OCLC:

1264470490