Brainmedia: One Hundred Years of Performing Live Brains, 1920–2020

ISBN-13: 9781501378751 / Angielski / Twarda / 2022 / 304 str.

the Netherlands) Flora Lysen (Maastricht University

Opis

Will we ever be able to see the brain at work? Could it be possible to observe thinking and feeling as if watching a live broadcast from within the human head? Brainmedia uncovers past and present examples of scientists and science educators who conceptualize and demonstrate the active human brain guided by new media technologies: from exhibitions of giant illuminated brain models and staged projections of brainwave recordings to live televised brain broadcasts, brains hooked up to computers and experiments with “brain-to-brain” synchronization. Drawing on archival material, Brainmedia outlines a new history of “live brains,” arguing that practices of—and ideas about—mediation impacted the imagination of seeing the brain at work. By combining accounts of scientists examining brains in laboratories with examples of public demonstrations and exhibitions of brain research, Brainmedia casts new light on popularization practices, placing them at the heart of scientific work.

Spis treści

Table of Figures Acknowledgements Introduction 1. The Birth of the Live Brain, 1820-1920 2. Displaying Dynamic Brains: Illuminated Brain Models and the Enchanted Loom, 1928-1938 3. Demonstrating Brainwaves Beyond the Laboratory: EEG as White Magic and Dark Media, 1934-1941 4. Broadcasting Live Brains: The Brain on Television and as Television, 1949-1957 5. Interfacing the Real-Time Brain: EEG Feedback in Art and Science, 1964-1977 6. Synchronizing Two Dynamic Brains: Art-Science Experiments and Neuroscience in the Wild, 2013-2019 Conclusion Bibliography List of Sources of Figures Index