Picturing Personhood Brain Scans and Biomedical Identity

"Based on interviews, media analysis, and participant observation at research labs and conferences, then author analyzes how assumptions designed into and read out of the experimental process reinforce specific notions about human nature. Such assumptions can enter the process at any turn, from selecting subjects and mathematical models to deciding which images to publish and how to color them. Once they leave the laboratory, PET scans shape social debates, influence courtroom outcomes, and have positive and negative consequences for people suffering mental illness. The author follows this complex story, demonstrating how brain scans, as scientific objects, contribute to our increasing social dependence on scientific authority".--BOOKJACKET.