Brain, Consciousness and Society

What does Rose mean by “the century of psychology”? (A; Rose,)

Psychology creates social transformation

• It shaped how we understand distress, normality, abnormality, child-rearing, education, management, and even ourselves (e.g., personality, anxiety, trauma).

• People came to see themselves as having a deep interior psychological space.

How did psychology really begin, according to Rose? (A; Rose,)

In practical settings (factories, prisons, schools, armies), not in labs. It started as a management tool, and abnormality came before normality.

What role did the “test” play in psychology’s development, and what did it replace? (A; Rose,)

Replaced experiment as psychology’s core technology.

• The test attaches a single number/score to an individual, making the invisible mind visible, calculable, and manageable.

According to Rose, how was psychology linked to democracy in the 1930s–1950s? (A; Rose,)

Social psychology was deeply tied to democratic values

• Attitudes (Thurstone)

  • Attitudes can be measured = you can compare and track people

  • “Social technology for rational control”: psychology gave society a tool to shape how people think. Instead of guessing, authorities could use scientific data to influence attitudes – for example, reducing prejudice or boosting morale.

• Public opinion (Gallup) – “feeling the pulse of democracy”

  • Opinion polls = Adding up individual answers to poll questions.

  • Polls keep democracy alive by letting leaders know what people really think.

• Group dynamics (Lewin)

  • Experiments show democratic leadership works better and is more effective.

What was the “group” and why was its discovery important? (A; Rose,)

The group was “invented” in the 1930s as an intermediary between individual and population.

• It is a new object of knowledge, intervention, and management.

What is the “enterprising self” and how does it relate to psychology? (A; Rose,)

An autonomous, choosing, risk-taking individual who makes a venture of life.

• The enterprising self emerged in the 1980s under neoliberalism

• Enterprise links political rhetoric, regulatory programs, and self-steering capacities and turns existential questions into technical problems of “quality of life.

What does Rose predict for psychology in the 21st century, and why? (A; Rose,)

The 20th‑century belief in a deep inner self is fading; we now see thoughts and feelings as brain activity (not separate mind - Cartesian dualism). If brain science replaces psychology, it must also learn to govern people – not just scan brains

What was Canguilhem’s critique of psychology’s concept of “normality,” and what was his metaphor about the Sorbonne? (A; Rose,)

For medicine, norms come from life itself (health = “life in the silence of the organs”). For psychology, norms come from institutional requirements (schools, factories, armies) – a normalizing project without a theory of normality.

Metaphor: Psychology stands between the Pantheon (philosophy) and the police station (social control).

What does the term "neuro" refer to?

The rapid expansion of brain science outside the laboratory into everyday life, law, economics, marketing, education, aesthetics, theology, and ethics.

How did the understanding of personhood shift from the 20th to the 21st century?

20th century: the psy- lens dominated: a deep interior psychological self, shaped by experience, language, and culture. 21st century: the neuro- lens has emerged: the brain as an organ, understood at molecular and systemic levels,

• Neuro is not fully replacing psy but rather augmenting and transforming the psychological society.

What are the "four key mutations" that enabled neuroscience to leave the laboratory?

1. Conceptual mutation – The emergence of the "neuromolecular brain": understanding brain processes at the molecular level (neurotransmitters, receptors, enzymes, ion channels).

2. Technological mutation – Development of brain imaging: CT, MRI (structure), PET and fMRI (function), allowing us to "see" the living brain in action.

3. Economic mutation – Growth of the neuroeconomy: massive public and private investment, Bayh-Dole Act (1980), university patenting, start-ups, and industry partnerships.

4. Biopolitical mutation – Governing through the brain: prevention, early intervention, identifying at-risk individuals via biomarkers and genes, and intervening presymptomatically.

What is the "neuromolecular" vision of the brain?

Understanding the brain at the molecular level

• Mental processes (cognition, emotion, volition) are outcomes of biophysical, chemical, and electrical interactions

What role did animal models play in the rise of neuroscience?

Animal models were essential for discovering that psychiatric drugs work by changing molecular processes in the brain.

• research shifted away from electricity and toward chemistry as the basis of neurotransmission.

mental disorders came to be seen as specific molecular malfunctions in the brain.

What were the two founding myths of psychopharmacology? Are they considered correct today?

1. monoamine hypothesis of depression - Schildkraut: depression caused by low levels of monoamine neurotransmitters like serotonin - wrong

2. dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia - Carlsson: schizophrenia caused by excess dopamine activity and antipsychotic drugs work by reducing dopamine - wrong

However, they organized research and growth of transactions between laboratories, clinics, pharmaceutical companies, and everyday life, leading to the routine use of psychoactive drugs for managing distress.

How did brain imaging technologies (CT, MRI, PET, fMRI) change the status of neuroscience?

CT and MRI (1970s–80s) produced images of brain structure

PET and fMRI (1990s–2000s) produced images of brain function

• These technologies made it seem possible to "see" the neural correlates of mental states in real time.

• This visibility was key to neuroscience gaining traction outside the lab.

What is the SANE effect, and why does it matter?

SANE stands for Seductive Allure of Neuroscience Explanations

• Adding irrelevant brain information makes explanations seem more understandable to laypeople (not nerds), even when the brain information adds no objective understanding.

neuroscience is sometimes used persuasively rather than factually.

How did the Bayh-Dole Act (1980) change biomedical research?

The Bayh-Dole Act allowed universities and scientists to own patents on their research funded by the government, which led to more private investments in biomedical research and collaboration with industries.

• Universities set up technology transfer offices, participated in start-ups, and engaged in patenting, licensing, royalties, and commercial relations with industry.

• It also created perverse incentives: overclaiming results, selective reporting, and rushing products to market.

What is the "translational imperative" in contemporary neuroscience?

The Demand that research is able "translate" from lab to market

• e.g generate therapies, products, and economic returns.

• However translation often takes decades, and success depends more on social, political, and institutional factors than on the quality of research itself.

• This creates a "political economy of hope" where promises about future cures drive investment = inflated claims and rushed commercialization.

What is a "political economy of hope" in the context of neuroscience?

A system where promissory claims about future cures, therapies, and products drive investment, research priorities, and public engagement.

• Every Participant has different hopes: academic success, curing loved ones, financial profit, national economic benefits.

• This system can cause exaggeration of results, biased reporting, and conflicts of interest. It also means that which research gets funding influences what is accepted as true in neuroscience.

How does contemporary biopolitics use the future to justify brain research?

Contemporary biopolitics: using future predictions about health issues to justify brain research and promote early intervention strategies.

• ex. Prediction: increase in mental disorders → get research = prevention through early intervention

• Children are key because their brains are most plastic.

What is the "screen and intervene" logic ?

A strategy for preventing mental disorders and antisocial behavior

1. identify individuals at risk (via biomarkers, genetic testing, or brain scans)

2. intervene presymptomatically (before any symptoms appear) to divert them from that undesirable path.

Goal: maximize individual and collective well-being and reduce future costs.

However, this logic can lead to intervening before anyone has done anything wrong, raising ethical concerns.

Does neuroscience lead to neurodeterminism (the belief that we are nothing but our brains)?

No, Humans are still held accountable for their actions.

• by understanding neurobiology we can improve actions(e.g., mindfulness, brain training, CBT).

• our selves are shaped by our brains, but we can also shape our brains.

What is the relationship between neuroscience and existing ideas about choice and responsibility?

Neurobiological research happily coexist with ideas about choice, responsibility, and consciousness.

• adult humans have the capacity to choose and intend based on mental states.

• Humans can be held accountable even when shaped by nonconscious forces, except in specific circumstances (compulsion, mental disorder, brain injury, dementia).

• Neuroscience does not lead policymakers to propose resignation; instead, it leads them to design environments that make it easier for people to make good decisions (e.g., "nudge" theory).

What is the "somatic ethic," and how does it relate to the brain?

People now see their happiness or unhappiness as a physical body problem (e.g. health, vitality, or morbidity) —not just a "mind" problem

• People used to work on their bodies to improve themselves. Now they work on their brains the same way—through brain games, neurofeedback, supplements, and "brain awareness"—believing that optimizing brain function is the key to happiness and self-improvement.

How do Rose and Abi-Rached define "critical" in their work?

Oxford English Dictionary definition: "exercising careful judgement or observation; nice, exact, accurate, precise."

Their critical spirit involves three aims:

1. describe new ways of thinking about the brain

2. consider the problems and conditions that made these ways of thinking possible

3. analyze how these developments are bound up with new technologies for governing conduct through the brain.

They seek "critical friendship" between human sciences and neurosciences.

What is "neuro-ontology" ?

Ontology: study of being or reality.

Neuro-ontology: the emerging understanding of personhood in which we have brains but are not reduced to them.

• it's shaped by shared beliefs (imaginaries) that feel true, like the idea that drugs can change your mind, genes shape your brain, or your brain can rewire itself.

What are "imaginaries" and why are they important for understanding neuroscience's success?

Imaginaries are common-sense assumptions that feel obviously true, even if they're simplifications of real science. Three such assumptions made brain science popular outside the lab:

1. Psychopharmacological — Pills fix chemical imbalances.

2. Genomic — Mental illness runs in our genes.

3. Neuroplasticity — Brains keep changing, especially in kids.

These beliefs shape how ordinary people think about their own brains, even when the actual science is more complex.

According to the slides, why did Freud and Piaget abandon brain projects mid-20th century?

• 1895 - Freud quit brain science for psychoanalysis because that seemed more scientific at the time.

• 1953 - Piaget chose philosophy over brain science because that seemed more fruitful (rewarding)

Now both choices are unthinkable. No researcher would ditch neuroscience for Freud or philosophy.

The point: Brain science has gone from second choice to king of the hill in just 70 years.

What is the "psychological society," and how might a "neuroscientific society" differ?

The 20th century was shaped by psychology — it changed how we raise kids, educate people, advertise products, manage workers, run courts, and even how we think about identity and freedom.

The 21st century will be shaped by neuroscience — all those same things (merit, normal vs. abnormal, parenting, consumer behavior) will be redefined as brain biology problems.

What is "governmentality," and how does it relate to neuroscience? (Foucault)

Governmentality = governing people through knowledge about them, not just laws or force.

• “conduct of conduct” - guiding behavior while people feel free

• 20th century - Psychology provided IQ tests and personality quizzes

How it applies to neuroscience:

• Redefining problems (e.g., bad behavior = a “brain issue”)

• Offering solutions (e.g., early intervention, brain training, medication)

• Making people self-manage their brains to fit social norms

Example:
If you believe your child’s focus problems are a “brain disorder,” you willingly seek treatment, monitor behavior, and adjust routines — not because the state forced you, but because you think it’s the right thing to do. That’s governmentality in action.

What are 4 concerns about intervention based on neurobiological risk markers?

1. Acting early — Intervening on people's brains before they've done anything wrong (e.g., preventing future bad behavior).

2. Blaming parents — If a child's brain looks "bad," parents may be blamed—repeating old 19th-century family-shaming tactics.

3. Stigma by image — Showing brain scans of "damaged" kids from poor neighborhoods can make them seem broken, not help them.

4. Biology backfires — Contrary to hope, explaining mental illness as a brain disorder often increases stigma instead of reducing blame.

How do patient advocacy groups (speak up for others) and pressure groups (push for change) fit into the neuroeconomy?

Pressure groups fight over brain-based medicine (agonistic):

• Some oppose calling autism or depression a "brain disorder" (neurobiomedicalization).

• Others push research funding toward real-world treatments.

• Complication: Many activist groups take money from drug companies—the same companies that profit when people worry more about these disorders.

Result: A tangled mess of interests with no simple right or wrong. It's a "political economy of hope"—everyone wants progress, but money and motives are mixed.

What is the difference between "sovereign government" and "liberal government" in Foucault's sense?

• Sovereign government (e.g., monarchy, dictatorship): rules through force, command, and visible power. The ruler's will is law, and obedience is demanded directly.

• Liberal government (in Foucault's sense – not "left-leaning" but a type of rationality): aims to govern with a minimum of force. It creates conditions where people govern themselves in ways that align with desired outcomes.

How does "freedom" function as a strategy of government in liberal societies?

"Obliged to be free" = you have no choice but to make the "right" choices.

• Freedom is mandatory — You must manage your health, career, relationships, and even your brain as a personal project.

• Failure is your fault — If things go wrong, it's because you didn't exercise your freedom responsibly.

• No one forces you — The system works by making you want to conform. You feel free, but the range of acceptable choices is already set.

Ex: You're "free" to eat whatever you want — but if you get diabetes, you're blamed for poor self-management. The state doesn't ban sugar; it just makes you responsible for handling the consequences. That's governance through freedom.

What is a "mentality" in the context of governmentality, and how does it relate to governance?

Mentality = the invisible background that makes certain actions feel normal and others unthinkable. It’s not an opinion—it’s what makes having opinions possible.

Governing through mentalities = shaping that background so people freely choose behaviors that match what authorities want.

"Neuro" as a mentality means people now think in brain-based terms: "My brain made me do it" = shifting focus away from society or personal morality and onto the brain

what should we study if we want to understand how we are governed in the present?

small, boring, everyday things:

• The "gray sciences" statistics, accounting, insurance.

• The "minor professions" social workers, HR managers, counselors, psychologists

• Mundane sites – schools, hospitals, factories, prisons, families.

Because power doesn't form in grand dramas. It forms in ordinary places, through ordinary people, using ordinary tools. That's where new kinds of authority and new ways of being a person are actually built.

What year is identifed as the "birth" of neuroscience, and why?

1962

neuromolecular brain became new object of knowledge

Who was Francis O. Schmitt, and what was the Neurosciences Research Program (NRP)?

Francis O. Schmitt (biophysicist at MIT): goal was to do for the brain what Watson and Crick had done for the gene – i.e., crack its code at the molecular level.

The Neurosciences Research Program (NRP): was an "invisible college" , a network of scientists from diverse disciplines (neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, psychology, psychiatry, physics, mathematics) who shared that goal.

What is "recurrent history" (performative history), and what role does it play in science?

Recurrent history: History written by insiders of a science. It's performative — meaning it doesn't just describe the past; it creates a usable past to justify the present and guide the future.

two types of past

• Sanctioned (good): a continuous sequence that led to the present (geniuses, precursors, crucial experiments, discoveries, obstacles overcome)

• lapsed (bad): false paths, errors, illusions, prejudice, mystification, and all ideas incongruous with the present - not flase, works as being constuctive

What is "critical history" (genealogical history), and how does it differ from recurrent history?

Critical history (which Rose and Abi-Rached practice): History written from the outside or with critical distance.

• Unlike recurrent history, it does not serve the present science but examines the conditions that made it possible to think in certain ways.

• What had to be true, and what had to be ignored, for this way of thinking to emerge?

What were the "three intertwining pathways" that converged around 1962 to create neuroscience?

1. The Path through the Nerves – History of the neuron, neurotransmission, neuroanatomy, "war of soups and sparks"

2. The Path through the Brain – Studies of brain structure and function, International Brain Research Organization (IBRO) founded in 1961.

3. The Path through Insanity (Mental Disorder) – Psychosurgery , The monoamine hypothesis of depression and dopamine hypothesis of schizophrenia –

What was the "war of soups and sparks," and who won?

A decades-long debate in the mid-20th century between electrical neurotransmission (sparks - Golgi's reticular network) and chemical neurotransmission (soups - Cajal's neuron doctrine).

• chemical view won – neurotransmission in the central nervous system was chemical, electrical transmission occurring along the neuron itself.

What was the "neuromolecular style of thought," and what are its 8 key principles?

shared conceptual framework that emerged around 1962

1. The brain is an organ like any other – even if much more complex.

2. Many neural processes have been conserved by evolution – animal models are valid.

3. Neural processes should be anatomized at the molecular level – reductionist approach.

4. The key processes are neurotransmission (chemical across synapse, electrical down neuron).

5. Neurotransmission involves multiple entities: ion channels, transporters, receptors, enzymes – variations in these have functional significance.

6. Different brain parts have different evolutionary histories and are specialized for different functions.

7. All mental processes reside in the brain – where else could they be?

8. Every mental state (normal or abnormal) has a relation to observable material processes in the brain.

What two historically significant boundaries did the neuromolecular style of thought blur (unclear)?

1. Organic vs. Functional Disorders

• Organic = caused by identifiable brain lesions (real, biological)

• Functional = no known brain cause; rooted in life history, stress, or biography (psychological, not biological)

Neuromolecular blurring: All mental disorders must, in principle, relate to anomalies in the brain. Everthing becomes organic.

2. States vs. Traits

• States = intermittent periods of illness, ex: some got depressed the healthy after treatment (psychiatry's job — treat episodes)

• Traits = stable, pervasive features of character or personality, maybe one is born with (psychology's job — understand the person)

Neuromolecular blurring: Both states and traits are variations of the same molecular mechanisms. collapses when it comes to intervention

= opened the door for treating personality traits and life problems with molecular interventions

What is "neuroplasticity," and why is it important for governance?

Neuroplasticity: Brain's ability to change across the life - rewiring

• Cajal's dogma (1928): After development, nothing regenerates; nerve paths are fixed and immutable.

• Hebb's postulate (1949): "What fires together, wires together."

Why it matters for governance:

• If the brain is plastic, then early intervention can reshape it for the better.

• If the brain is damaged by early adversity (neglect, trauma, poor parenting), that damage can be seen on brain scans.

= yay early intervention is helpfull and you can wire your own brain by mindfullness type shit

What is "epigenetics," and how did Meaney's research use it to link brain science to parenting?

Epigenetics: Changes in gene expression (e.g., methylation) caused by environmental factors and can be passed down generations – without changing the DNA sequence itself.

Meaney research: mom maus care shapes gene expression in offspring's brains through methylation, which affects neuronal development and later behavior toward offspring. They suggested these findings could be extended to humans (e.g., suicide victims with a history of child abuse).

= early interventaion yayyy works

What was the difference between Golgi's and Cajal's views of the nervous system, and what did they share?

	Golgi	Cajal (W)
Theory	Reticular theory -nervous system is one continuous, connected network	Neuron doctrine - neurons are discrete, individual cells used Golgi stain haha
What they saw	A single fused web	Separate units with tiny gaps between them

• Nobel Prize in 1906 — awarded to both, despite bitter public fight.

• show competing ontologies (theorys)

What is wrong with the search for "precursors" ( first person) in the history of science?

1. No one saw themselves as a precursor. → labeling them = making them something they are not

2. Calling someone a precursor prevents understanding them → Stuff that dosn’t fit gets ignoerd

3. Extraction and insertion → The historian extracts a thinker from one cultural frame (their own time) and inserts them into another (our time).

4. Forgetting history → To call someone a precursor, you have to forget that the object of study (e.g., "the brain,") changes across history.

Calling someone a "precursor" means you stop trying to understand them and start using them as a prop for your own story.

How did psychopharmacology shape the neuromolecular vision?

Neuromolecular vision was shaped by drug interventions

Drug-based hypotheses (researcher had drug; how does drug work? receptor?)

→ became real anatomy (some guess came true through experiment; wow we have recepter)

→ justified more drugs (Pharma company want money = more research/ drugs)

= psychopharmacological societies; people think drug solves emotions, brain is drugable organ

How does the plastic brain become a site of individual responsibility?

The plastic brain = the brain can change throughout life.

You can improve brain through interventions, mindfullness healthy messages (books)

You are responsible for improving brain, it’s your fault if you fail (liberal goverment)

Evidence for the growth of neuroscience between 1958 and 2008?

• 1962: Term "neuroscience" first used

• 1969: Society for Neuroscience founded

• 1979: First SfN convention

• After 1998: more and more articles

What is meant by language should be analyzed as a "signpost" for governance?

Translation = how a network grows by persuading people to join, not forcing them.

• Words like "neuro" (neurolaw, neuroeducation, neuromarketing) spread, they are like a signpost. Analysts can follow these words to track how a mentality moves.

• When people start using "neuro" language, they're being recruited into a new way of thinking — and they reinforce it just by speaking.

Follow the "neuro" words. They show how a mentality spreads and how people become obliged to be free.

What is the "Cartesian boundary" in psychiatry, and how did the neuromolecular brain blur it?

Distinction between organic disorders (brain lesion = dumb) and functional disorders (you dumb but no physical cause, mental).

What is a "social imaginary" ( Taylor) ?

Social imaginary = the invisible, taken-for-granted background that makes society's practices feel normal and obvious.

• not a set of ideas

• Ex: Belief: "up from the People" (through voting) is part of the modern democratic social imaginary. Without that shared background, standing in line to mark a ballot would seem bizarre.

Unlike theory (held by a small minority), the social imaginary is shared by large groups – if not the whole society.

What is "sociotechnical imaginary" (Jasanoff)?

Sociotechnical imaginary = a shared vision of a desirable future that can be reached through science and technology.

1. Desirable futures — imagines utopia (or dystopia)

2. Institutionally stabilized — embedded in policies, funding, organizations

3. Publicly performed — seen in media, ads, politics

Connection to neuro:

• Now the public believes in "neuro" as ascientific upgrade - brain scans, chemicals, wiring.

• Even if the science is uncertain, this belief shapes:

  • How people govern themselves

  • How policies are made

  • What feels like a "real" explanation

What is "cortical chauvinism"? Why is it problematic?

Cortical chauvinism = the unexamined bias that the cortex (the brain's outer layer) is the most important part and resposible for higher finction (e.g. being human)

Problem:

This Bias shapes what is researched and ignores parts like the Cerebrum, Glia and Gut, hence

How did Esquirol use images to transform psychiatric diagnosis in the 1830s?

Esquirol commissioned 200 drawings of patients at the Salpêtrière asylum with madness (mania, dementia, lypemania )and published as an Atlas alongside detailed descriptions and case studies = exemplars: see how metal illness looked like on a person (e.g manic person)

sim: first pycho Photos very usefall for teaching

Why were 19th-century photographs of insane patients not truly objective evidence?

The person posing the patient, choosing the angle, and interpreting the expression already has a theory in their head. And that theory ends up in the image = not more objective than drawings

Ex:

• Darwin wanted to use photos of emotion, but realized: the patients were clothed and posed according to current ideas about how emotions show on the face = Circutory: theory dressed up as data.

• Charcot's famous demonstrations of hysterical patients at the Salpêtrière were carefully staged — coaching, suggestion, even simulation.

What was Gall's contribution, and why is he important despite phrenology being pseudoscience?

Contribution:

• He said Cerebral cortex is the key to mental functions. Drew "brain organs" for different faculties. The size of each organ is linked to its power and this is seen in the skull = Phrenology

His specific claims were wrong (bumps on skull = mental traits), but he made cerebral localization thinkable — the idea that specific brain regions control specific mental functions.

What is "cerebral localization," and which 19th-century researchers advanced it?

Cerebral localization = Idea that specific brain regions are responsible for specific mental functions.

Paul Broca (1861):

• Broken Broca's area (left frontal convolution) = person can understand but can’t speak.

• Left hem, is reponsible for langugae

Carl Wernicke (1874):

• Broken Wernicke's area (left temporal lobe)= inability to understand or speak comprehensibly.

Paul Flechsig (1877-1922):

• Mapped the brain into areas based on myelination sequences, mylination happens at different time → different job

Korbinian Brodmann (1903-1908):

• Mapped the cerebral cortex into 52 numbered areas (Brodmann areas)

What was craniometry, and what problems did it have?

Craniometry = The practice of measuring skull/brain size to correlate with intelligence, race, and gender.

Ex of racits

• Samuel Morton: measured cranial capacity by filling skulls with mustard or lead, comparing averages by race.

• Paul Broca was also measured skulls. Distorted his data (maybe unconsciously) to fit his beliefs about superior/inferior races and men vs. women.

These studies failed to find consistent correlations, but some people still believed that skull measurements should reveal something about human hierarchies.

What were pneumoencephalography and cerebral angiography, and who developed them?

Pneumoencephalography (Dandy): Drain cerebrospinal fluid and inject air into the skull, then X-ray. This allowed visualization of the ventricles and detection of tumors or blood clots.

Cerebral angiography (Moniz ): Inject contrast agent into blood vessels, then X-ray. This visualized normal and abnormal blood vessels, tumors, and aneurysms.

• Moniz later developed the frontal lobotomy

Invasive ways to brain

What did Wilder Penfield achieve through cortical stimulation during awake brain surgery?

Operated on awake patients with their skulls opened (brain surgery for epilepsy). He stimulated different points on the cortex

found:

• Sensory & motor maps — Created the homunculus (a distorted map of the body on the brain's surface; hands and lips are huge, trunk is tiny)

• Temporal lobe stimulation — Sometimes triggered vivid memories (e.g., an orchestra playing — the patient would hum along) or hallucinations

• Disappeared when probe removed — The experience was caused directly by stimulation

= Councios experiances (feeling) can be seen in brain

What is the difference between CT, MRI, PET, and fMRI?

• CT: 3D X-ray — shows structure (bones, bleeding, tumors).

• MRI: magnetic fields to align protons = detailed 3D photo of soft tissue structure (brain anatomy, gray vs. white matter).

• PET: Uses radio molecules to track metabolisim (activity; which cells are burning fuel), slow and radioactive.

• fMRI: Uses blood-oxygen-level to track blood flow to what real time brain parts are active

What is the BOLD response, and why is it important for fMRI?

BOLD = Blood-Oxygen-Level-Dependent contrast

• Oxygenated blood (lots of oxygen) → no effect on magnetic field

• Deoxygenated blood (less oxygen) → distorts magnetic field

Active brain regions use more oxygen = deoxygenated.

fMRI measures Bold to see mental activity in real time.

ex: What brain is active when drawing or people often use fMRI to cal hate love

What is Jerry Fodor's critique of brain localization research?

"If the mind happens in space at all, it happens somewhere north of the neck. What exactly turns on knowing how far north?"

knowing where a mental process happens in the brain tells us little about how it works. Localization does not explain mechanism.

What is Russell Poldrack's critique of localization in neuroimaging?

Poldrack argues that while finding a "blobby spot" tells you a brain area is involved, it almost never tells you the specific mental state because those areas are not selective enough to support reverse inference

What is the "scale problem" in fMRI according to Nikos Logothetis?

A single voxel (the 3D pixel in an fMRI image) is massive

"It makes no sense to read a newspaper with a microscope."

• You cannot see the activity of individual neurons or small circuits; you see the mass action of millions of cells.

According to ethnographer Simon Cohn, why is the scanning lab not a "non-place"?

A scanning facility is not a neutral space. It has specific sights, sounds, social relations, and physical constraints. The subject is lying in a loud, confined machine, performing tasks they would never do in real life (e.g., pressing buttons when they see a shape).

results are shaped by factors the statistics can't see.

What are the four stages of generating a brain image, according to Joseph Dumit?

1. Devising the experiment – choosing participants, defining them (normal, schizophrenic, drug-naive), controlling prior states, specifying the task.

2. Measuring activity – conducting the scan, compiling data, algorithmically reconstructing a 3D map of activity.

3. Making data comparable – normalizing brains, warping individual brains to fit a standard anatomical atlas (smoothing, stretching, warping the data).

4. Making data presentable – coloring, contrasting, producing final images.

it becomes black boxed - rely on outcome

What is "black-boxing" in the context of brain imaging software like SPM?

Black-boxing = hiding complex assumptions and decisions inside a tool or software so users don't see them. The user just presses a button and gets a result. The messy middle (the "box") is invisible.

SPM (Statistical Parametric Mapping) is the standard software used to transform raw fMRI data into colorful images,

= there is blackboxing, see pretty picture but not the years of programming behind it

What is the "objectivity effect" of brain images, and what studies demonstrate it?

The objectivity effect: The phenomenon where presenting a brain image positively influences judgments of scientific quality and persuasiveness – even when the image is irrelevant to the argument.

• McCabe & Castel: Readers judged scientific articles as higher quality when they included a brain image, even when the image added no information.

• Weisberg et al.: Verbal descriptions of neuroimaging results made weak arguments more persuasive.

What does Rose and Abi-Rached mean by "the image does not speak for itself"?

Every image requires interpretation within a shared imaginary that makes certain readings feel obvious.

• It is not a transparent window onto reality

• The image should be judged by criteria of rationality, validity, or efficacy – not by an illusion of transparency.

What does the Jim Fallon example (neuroscientist with a "psychopath brain") illustrate?

Jim Fallon, a neuroscientist, discovered during an unrelated PET scan that his own brain activation patterns looked like those of psychopaths. Genetic testing then showed he had "warrior genes" (associated with low empathy, low anxiety, high aggression), but he seems not psychopathy

= Image does not determine the person, they are interpreted within broader narratives (like upbringing, environment, choice). Yet the image carries persuasive power.

What is the "Grotian-Lockean moral order," and what are its key features?

• New vision of society that emerged in the 17th century (responding to the Wars of Religion)

The Grotian-Lockean moral order = You own yourself. Government exists because you agree to it, not because God or a king says so.

Rule	What it means in plain words
Individuals first	You have rights before any government exists.
Mutual benefit	Society is a deal: we help each other stay safe and prosper.
Consent	Government only has power because you agreed to it (voting, taxes, obeying laws).
Limited government	You can say "no" to power. Your rights protect you from the state.
Equality	No one is born above anyone else (in theory, at least).

"double expansion":

Extended → More people get to live under these rules (not just rich white men anymore).

Intensified → The rules apply to more areas of life (work, family, health, even your

What are the two types of premodern moral order, and how do they differ from the modern order?

Type 1 – Law of a people "time out of mind": A group of people has always lived a certain way, so that way becomes the law. backward-looking: If someone breaks it, you just go back to how things used to be. e.g. old english moral economy

Type 2 – Hierarchical/cosmic order: Society is arranged like a ladder. God is at the top, then the king, then nobles, then peasants. This order comes from nature or the universe itself. You cannot argue with it — you just obey.

Modern Order (Grotian-Lockean):
People are born free and equal. They create society by agreeing to live together for their own safety and benefit. Because people made it, people can change it if they want.

What is the "sanctification of ordinary life," and why does it matter for modernity?

Hard work = close to God, Wasting time = SIN

The Idea that ordinary life – work, family, production, sex – becomes hallowed rather than inferior.

• Came from Religous reforms

• Before people prayed, Now people work

• Even after becoming non religous idea of hard work stayed = economic prosperity became central goal

What is meant by Taylor saying by society as an "economy"?

• The first great mutation in social imaginary

In modern times society is no longer just the government. There is a separate sphere called the economy

• People buy and sell not because the king commands it, but because they each want to prosper.

• The invisible hand: When I try to make money for myself, I accidentally help everyone else too (I hire workers, I buy supplies, I pay taxes) = Mutual benefit

• Society is no longer equivalent to the polity – the economy exists as an extrapolitical sphere.

What is the "public sphere," and what are its three novel features?

• second great mutation in social imaginary

Public sphere = a shared space where people come together (through newspapers, books, conversation) to talk about common problems and form a shared opinion. It is metatopical ( exists though diff locations)

Three novel features:

1. Independent of the polity → The public sphere exists outside government control its made bu ordinary people

2. Benchmark of legitimacy →Power no longer gives orders from above, it must answer to public reason from below.

• veritas non auctoritas facit legem (truth, not authority, makes law).

3. Radically secular → No divine foundation (God, no ancient foundation), acting together in profane time

Why did the American and French Revolutions have different outcomes in in establishing popular sovereignty?

• popular sovereignty - the idea that the people rule, not a king.

American Revolution:

• They had An "ancient constitution" that had election, voting and taxing. They also said no to taxes they did’t agree to

• Most important: There was a agreed-upon institutional meaning - a shared idea of how popular sovereignty should work

= A smooth transition

French Revolution:

• They had no commonly accepted meaning of popular sovereignty

• There was no way to vote Estates General had not met for a long time = Undecidable issues had to be settled by force — purges, executions, the Terror.

• The problem of "ending the Revolution" haunted France for a century.

• Solution: manhood suffrage (Gambetta) all man could vote = popular sovereignty arrose

= catastrophic transition

What are the 4 forms of social existence in the modern social imaginary, and what is the role of rights?

1. The economy – system of production, exchange, and consumption with its own laws; extrapolitical.

2. The public sphere – metatopical, secular space of discussion where reason tames power.

3. Popular sovereignty – The people exist before the government — they create it, not the other way around

4. Rights - You have natural rights prior to any political structure. Government cannot take them away

The role of rights:

The Grotian-Lockean idea: You have rights because you are human. Rights come before the state. The state must respect them.

According to Taylor, what mistake do we often make when thinking about modernity and individualism?

1. People think modernity means "more individualism, less community" - This misses that modernity creates new forms of togetherness — the economy, the public sphere, popular sovereignty. These are not just the absence of old community; they are entirely new ways of being social.lity (economy, public sphere, popular sovereignty).

2. We think modernity happened by "subtraction" - that we just removed old beliefs (God, king, tradition) and mutual benefit was the obvious leftover. Wrong. Humans lived in hierarchies for most of history. Modern individualism was never obvious or easy. Looking back and pretending it was natural is anachronism.

What is "self-vindication" (Ian Hacking), and how does it apply to animal models?

Self-vindication - Laboratory sciences become closed systems, you build a closed world where everything fits perfectly — but that world may have no connection to reality outside the lab, which is why animal models so often fail to translate to humans.

• Theories, apparatus, and methods of analysis all get mutually adjusted to each other.

• You fix your instruments (materially) and redescribe what they do (intellectually) until everything fits.

= Behavioral neuroscience studies phenomena in animals that do not occur in nature — they are produced by the lab setup itself (e.g., a mouse "depression" caused by forced swimming).

What is the difference between "thick description" and "thin description"?

Thick Description	Thin Description
Detailed, nuanced, contextual, deep	Brief, straightforward, direct, shallow
Qualitative	Quantitative
Harder to compare across cases	More countable, calculable, comparable, manageable
Example: a full case study of a person's life	Example: a grade on a transcript

Science is a translation process from thick to thin “thinng down”

• Animal models aim to do the same: if you can't study a phenomenon in humans, try to find an analogue in an animal.

What are the "three stabilizations" required for animal modeling?

Successful animal modeling requires triple stabilization, No stabilization = no laboratory, no result, no paper.

1. The Experimenter (authority, disciplining): The scientist's own habits, perception, and technique need to be changed through scientific apprenticeship -

2. The Setup (The entire environment): It works if the setup retreats into the background as its outcomes appear in graphs and diagrams.

3. The Animals (subjects): selected, bred, standardized, they must be the same, biologically and behaviorally, (interchangeabnle) across the entire experiment.

What is a "setup" (Latour), and what are "inscriptions"?

A setup (dispositif) = The entire assembled system that makes laboratory science possible.

• Experimenters, Colleagues from multiple discipline, Institutions, subjects

The setup produces inscriptions: visual records of the experiment (graphs, diagrams, charts, images) turned into data that can be taken away from the lab

What is Canguilhem's critique of laboratory conditions for animals?

• The laboratory creates a "catastrophic situation" for living beings.

• Organisms naturally organises their own milieu (enviorment) – it adapts, improvises, and utilizes occurrences.

• The laboratory deprives the animal of precisely that opportunity, commanding it from the outside.

= Consequences: The laboratory animal is in a pathological state (abnormal) from the start – yet researchers use it to model normal and pathological human states. This is a fundamental paradox.

What are the five types of models

Models₁ - Conceptual Models: Diagrams or theories of how something works.

• The monoamine hypothesis of depression

• Evaluated by: Performance (does it work?), not truth (is it real?).

Models₂ – Mechanical/Material Models: Physical 3D artifacts you can touch and manipulate.

• Wooden model ships, plastic molecules, stuffed animals.

• Combine realism with docility (you can move it)

Models₃ – Animal Models of Structures/Functions: Using animals (or their parts) to study basic biology thought to apply to humans.

• The squid giant axon (huge nerve cell) used to understand how all neurons fire.

Models₄ – Animal Models of Behavior: Using animals to study behavior itself.

• Pavlov's dogs (salivation), Harlow's monkeys (attachment).

• The problem: Defining "behavior" for animals is tricky.

Models₅ – Animal Models of Human Psychiatric Disorders: Using DSM criteria to create animals (usually mice) with behaviors that look like human mental disorders, then testing drugs on them.

• e.g. A mouse that stops moving when forced to swim = "depressed mouse."

• The problem: Prone to paradoxical looping and self-vindication

The further you move from Models₁ toward Models₅, the more problems you get

What is the "paradoxical looping effect" in animal models of psychiatric disorders?

Paradoxical looping = a circular process where the testing method itself creates the evidence that confirms what you already believed. You find exactly what you imagined — because you built a machine that could only find that.

Ex: Have theory test it on maus → maus shows effct → theory works → Find The DSM category

What is the "forced swim test" and "elevated plus maze," and why are they criticized?

These are behavioral tests used in animal models of psychiatric disorders:

Test	What it measures	How it works
Elevated plus maze	Anxiety	Rodent placed in a maze with open and enclosed arms. "Anxious" mouse prefers enclosed spaces; less anxious mouse explores open arms.
Forced swim test	Depression (learned helplessness)	Mouse placed in cold water; measure time until it stops swimming and floats. Longer swimming = less depressed.
Tail suspension test	Depression	Mouse suspended by tail; measure time until it stops struggling and hangs passively.

Criticisms:

• These tests are based on simple analogies that may not hold. A mouse's "preference" for enclosed spaces may have nothing to do with human anxiety.

• The forced swim test assumes depression = learned helplessness – a highly contested equation.

• The tests are artifacts of the laboratory setup – they do not occur in nature.

• They are part of the self-vindicating loop: they measure what they were designed to measure, but that may not correspond to human experience.

What is the "August Krogh principle," and how does it relate to model selection?

The August Krogh principle: Don't force one animal to fit every problem. Look at nature's diversity. Pick the animal that is best suited for your specific question.

• Squid giant axon to study neuron = Huge nerve cell — easy to poke with electrodes

The tension: Krogh = use diff animals, standarization = Use same everytime, easier to compare

What is "reverse translation" (Thomas Insel), and what are its limitations?

Reverse translation = Instead of starting with a human behavior (e.g., depression) and trying to create an animal that acts like it, you start with a known biological abnormality in humans (e.g., a specific gene mutation) and create an animal that has that same biological abnormality — then see what behaviors emerge.

Limitations (acknowledged by Insel himself):

• It still assumes DSM is correct

• It remains tied to DSM categories

• The behavioral analog problem remains

  • e.g. Social defeat in a mouse ≠ major depressive disorder

• We don't know enough biology to validate anything

What is the DISC1 "mouse model of schizophrenia," and why is it controversial?

DISC1 = "Disrupted-in-Schizophrenia-1": A gene originally identified in a single Scottish family (2000) where members carried a mutation and had higher rates of schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression.

mouse model of schizophrenia. An experiment where mice were created with DISC1 protein and they showed agitation in open fields (hyperactivity?), trouble finding hidden food (smell defects?), poor swimming (apathy?), and enlarged lateral ventricles on MRI

Why it is controversial:

1. The genetic link is weak

2. DISC1 is not specific to schizophrenia - has been implicated in schizoaffective disorder, bipolar disorder, and major depression.

3. Behavioral analogies are simplistic - Agitation in an open field is not hyperactivity. Trouble finding food is not smell defects. Poor swimming is not apathy.

4. We don't know if DISC1 has the same developmental pathways in mice and humans.

a classic example of self-vindication and paradoxical looping.

What is the traditional social science position on the "specificity of the human"?

Claim: Humans are unique among living beings. Other animals do not have language, culture, or history and these make human action fundamentally different from animal behavior.

• A wink (human) = "I'm joking", A blink (animal or reflex) = muscle contraction.

2 comen erros:

Anthropomorphism → Attributing human mental states (guilt, shame, hope) to animals

Biologization of the human → Reducing complex human experience (love, grief, meaning) to biological causes (dopamine, genes, brain circuits)

What is Wittgenstein's lion quote, and what does it mean for animal models?

"If a lion could talk, we would not understand him"

Meaning: Even if an animal could produce human-like language, its form of life is so different from ours that we would not be able to interpret what it said. Understanding requires sharing a form of life – ways of acting, reacting, and being in the world.

• We are different to animal = can’t project human mental states to them

Counter arguments:

Gregory Bateson	Mammal play involves meta-communication — a signal that says "this is play, not fight." That requires a kind of shared understanding.
Maturana & Varela	Great apes show linguistic competence — they can learn and use symbols.
Paul Patton	Dressage (horse riding) involves communication between human and horse — a shared form of life built through years of practice.

What does the example of Einstein's brain and behavior teach us about models and pathology?

Einstein's behavior:

• Rarely went to lectures, argued with teachers, preferred cafes

• Used a friend's study notes and got better grades than the friend

• Studied with his girlfriend and got her pregnant

• Could not get a physics job; worked at a patent office

By certain standards: Lazy, difficult, irresponsible, unsuccessful.

Einstein's brain (post-mortem):

• Missing regions: parietal operculum and part of lateral sulcus

• Lower parietal lobe 15% larger than average (linked to mathematical thought, visuospatial cognition, imagery of movement)

= Brain differences alone do not determine pathology (condition) - the same biological feature can be seen as "genius" or "disorder" depending on context, functioning, and social interpretation.

What is the history of homosexuality in the DSM, and what does it show about models?

Timeline:

• DSM-I (1952) - Homosexuality included explicitly as a mental disorder

• Kinsey's research (1948, 1953): shows homosexuality is common, suggesting it may not be pathological

• December 1973: APA Board of Trustees voted to revise criteria in DSM-II = homo okay

• DSM-II (revised): Replaced homosexuality with "distress" over sexual orientation (still pathological)

• DSM-5 (2013): "Distress" finally removed – being gay is normal in a different way

What this shows about models:

The DSM is not a neutral mirror of nature—it changes with social imaginaries. Science alone does not determine diagnostic categories; politics, activism, and cultural change play crucial roles (as seen with homosexuality). Applying the three stabilizations: the experimenter (psychiatry as authority) and the subjects (all of us) stay relatively consistent, but the setup (society and imaginaries) shifts. Therefore, the DSM is a "governmental" reflection of developments in society, a model, not a mirror.

what is Ontology? and how does it relate to big or small imaginaries?

Ontology = what exists / what is real.

Two meanings:

1. Metaphysical – how things really are (unknowable, irrelevant for science)

2. Informational – what scientists talk about as real (changes over time)

Relation to imaginaries:

• Big imaginaries (like "neuro") = the background lens of an entire society. They make certain ontologies feel obvious.

• Small imaginaries (models, like the forced swim test) = local ontologies inside a lab. Within that setup, "floating = depression" becomes true — even if it's not true in the real world.

What is the "mereological fallacy" and how does it apply to animal models?

Mereological fallacy = assigning to a part of something a property that can only belong to the whole.

e.g. "The mouse's serotonin system caused its depression-like behavior", the whole maus did it not the system

• Thinking, deciding, feeling depressed — these are properties of the whole person, not the brain alone.

• This is not just sloppy language – it reflects a conceptual confusion about the relation between mind, brain, and person.

How does Hacking extend Duhem's thesis about theory and experiment?

Duhem Thesis: If an experiment contradicts your theory, you can always adjust something to save your theory

• Modify the theory

• Modify auxiliary hypotheses (background assumptions you make about your equipment, methods, and conditions)

• implys underdetermination (many theories could fit the data)

Hacking argues the opposite. Once all elements are mutually adjusted, there are too few degrees of freedom. Changing any one element throws everything out of whack. The result is determinateness, not indeterminacy.