Interpreting Neuroimages: An Introduction to the Technology and Its Limits

Editors: Josephine Johnston and Erik Parens

Neuroimages—depictions of the structure of the brain and of changes that occur within the brain as people have sensations, thoughts, and feelings—are increasingly important in biomedical research and are also used in medicine, in courtrooms, and in everyday discussions about what people are—what it means to be a person or to be free, for example. Neuroimages are certainly visually arresting. What do they really tell us? This special report is available for free.

 

Table of Contents

 

Introduction: Neuroimaging: Beginning to Appreciate Its Complexities 

Erik Parens and Josephine Johnston

Functional Neuroimaging: Technical, Logical, and Social Perspectives

Geoffrey K. Aguirre

Brain Images, Babies, and Bath Water: Critiquing Critiques of Functional Neuroimaging

Martha J. Farah

Neuroimaging and Psychiatry: The Long Road from Bench to Bedside

Helen S. Mayberg

Seeing Responsibility: Can Neuroimaging Teach Us Anything about Moral and Legal Responsibility?

David Wasserman and Josephine Johnston

Afterward: Living with the Ancient Puzzle

Erik Parens