Sex, Lies, and Brain Scans by Barbara J. Sahakian, Hardcover, 9780198752882 | Buy online at The Nile
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Sex, Lies, and Brain Scans

How fMRI reveals what really goes on in our minds

Author: Barbara J. Sahakian and Julia Gottwald  

The potential of fMRI is extraordinary. It allows us to observe brain activity in real time, build an understanding of thoughts and motivations, and discern unconscious biases.

In a limited but real way we can now 'read minds'. Barbara Sahakian and Julia Gottwald explain the science, and consider the ethical implications of using these techniques.

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Summary

The potential of fMRI is extraordinary. It allows us to observe brain activity in real time, build an understanding of thoughts and motivations, and discern unconscious biases.

In a limited but real way we can now 'read minds'. Barbara Sahakian and Julia Gottwald explain the science, and consider the ethical implications of using these techniques.

Read more

Description

The recent explosion of neuroscience techniques has been game-changing in terms of understanding the healthy brain, and in the development of neuropsychiatric treatments. One of the key techniques is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which allows us to examine the human brain non-invasively, and observe brain activity in real time. Through fMRI, we are beginning to build a deeper understanding of our thoughts, motivations, and behaviours. Already fMRIhas been used to detect conscious activity in some patients who had all indications of being in a vegetative state, and even enabled us to communicate with some of them. This is just one of the manystriking areas in which fMRI can be used to 'read minds'. As neuroscientists unravel the brain networks of self-control and morality, we might find abnormalities in criminal offenders. Could we predict crimes before they are committed? fMRI has also been used to detect racial bias in some people who regarded themselves as fair-minded. Meanwhile, the reliability of fMRI as a lie detector in murder cases or as a tool for marketing is being debated.Sex, Lies, and Brain Scans takes readers beyond the media headlines. Barbara Sahakian and Julia Gottwald consider what the technique of fMRI entails, and what information it can give us, showing whichapplications are possible today, and which ones are science fiction. They also consider the important ethical questions these techniques raise. Should brain scans be allowed at airports to screen for terrorists? Should they be used to vet future judges and teachers? How far will we allow neuroscience to go? It is time to make up our minds.

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Awards

Winner of Winner of the British Psychological Society Book Award for Popular Science.

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Critic Reviews

“rich coverage of behavioural research”

The authors highlight ethical issues that should be of interest to all of us. Psychology Today
A valuable primer on what fMRI can and cannot tell us, at least at the moment Julian Baggini, Financial Times
Russell Poldrack, Nature

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About the Author

Barbara J Sahakian is Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology at the University of Cambridge Department of Psychiatry and the Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute. She is also an Honorary Clinical Psychologist at Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge. She holds a PhD and a DSc from the University of Cambridge. She is Past-President of the International Neuroethics Society, Past-President of the British Association for Psychopharmacology, and a Fellow of theAcademy of Medical Sciences. Sahakian is also a Member of the International Expert Jury for the 2017 Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung Prize and a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council onBrain Research. She is co-author of Bad Moves: How decision making goes wrong and the ethics of smart drugs (OUP, 2013), with Jamie Nicole LaBuzetta, and co-editor of The Oxford Handbook of Neuroethics (OUP, 2011), with Judy Illes. Julia Gottwald is a PhD student at the University of Cambridge in the Department of Psychiatry. She has a strong interest in interdisciplinary research and holds academic degrees in Biochemistry from Free University (Germany) and Neuroscience fromthe University of Oxford. She is enthusiastic about science communication and is involved in public engagement events, such as Pint of Science and the Cambridge Science Festival. She won the BAP Public CommunicationPrize 2016 for communicating science to the public, and her 800-word article explaining her research to the general public was shortlisted for the Max Perutz Science Writing Award 2014.

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More on this Book

The recent explosion of neuroscience techniques has proved to be game changing in terms of understanding the healthy brain, and in the development of neuropsychiatric treatments. One of the key techniques available to us is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which allows us to examine the human brain non-invasively, and observe brain activity in real time. Through fMRI, we are beginning to build a deeper understanding of our thoughts, motivations, and behaviours. Recent reports that some patients who have all indications of being in a persistent vegetative state show conscious awareness, and were able to communicate with researchers, demonstrate perhaps the most remarkable and dramatic use of fMRI. But this is just the most striking of a number of areas in which fMRI is being used to 'read minds', albeit in a very limited way. Sex, Lies, and fMRI takes readers beyond the media headlines. Barbara Sahakian and Julia Gottwald consider what the technique of fMRI entails, and what information it can give us, showing which applications are possible today, and which ones are science fiction. They also consider the important ethical questions these techniques raise. Should individuals applying for jobs as teachers or judges be screened for unconscious racial bias? How far will we allow neuroscience to go? It is time to make up our minds.

Read more

Product Details

Publisher
Oxford University Press
Published
19th January 2017
Pages
176
ISBN
9780198752882

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