Brainmedia : one hundred years of performing live brains, 1920-2020 / Flora Lysen.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lysen, Flora, author.

Series:

Thinking Media

Thinking Media.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Neurosciences in motion pictures--History.

Neurosciences in motion pictures.

Brain--Imaging--History.

Brain.

Arts medicine.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (272 pages).

Edition:

First edition.

Distribution:

[London, England] : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2022

Place of Publication:

London [England] : Bloomsbury Academic, 2022

Summary:

"Will we ever be able to see the brain at work? Can we observe thinking and feeling as if we were watching a live broadcast in the human head? Brainmedia uncovers past and present examples of scientists and science educators who conceptualise and demonstrate the active human brain guided by new media technologies. Drawing on original archival material, Brainmedia outlines a new history of "live brains" and argues that practices of and ideas about mediation impacted the imagination of seeing the brain at work. In five illustrated case studies, Flora Lysen shows the conceptual but also practical assembling of brains and media: illuminated brain models in the 1920s and 30s; staged brainwave recordings from the 30s to the 40s; live brains on television and conceptions of brains as television in the 40s and 50s; EEG feedback circuits and the rise of real-time interfaces around 1970; and "brain-to-brain" synchronisation research in the 21st century. By combining examples of scientists examining brains in laboratories and examples of public demonstrations and exhibitions of brain research, Brainmedia casts new light on popularisation practices, placing them at the heart of scientific work. An important part of brain research, this book argues, is the performing of knowledge with and through media."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1. Introduction 2. The Birth of the Live Brain, 1820-1920

3. Displaying Dynamic Brains: Illuminated Brain Models and the Enchanted Loom, 1928-1938

4. Demonstrating Brainwaves Beyond the Laboratory: EEG as White Magic and Dark Media, 1934-1941

5. Broadcasting Live Brains: The Brain on Television and as Television, 1949-1957

6. Interfacing the Real-Time Brain: EEG Feedback in Art and Science, 1964-1977

7. Synchronizing Two Dynamic Brains: Art-Science Experiments and Neuroscience in the Wild, 2013-2019

8. Conclusion

Bibliography

List of Figures

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-5013-7871-6

9781501378744

1501378740

9781501378737

1501378732

OCLC:

1294194893