Of the Artistic Nude and Technological Behaviorism

Nuncius ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 376-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mattia Della Rocca
Keyword(s):  
First Generation ◽  
Short Review ◽  
World War ◽  
Related Field ◽  
Brain Science ◽  
The Core ◽  
Brain Sciences ◽  
Material History ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Brain

Neuromorphic technologies lie at the core of 21st century neuroscience, especially in the “big brain science” projects started in 2013 – i.e. the BRAIN Initiative and the Human Brain Project. While neuromorphism and the “reverse engineering” of the brain are often presented as a “methodological revolution” in the brain sciences, these concepts have a long history which is strongly interconnected with the developments in neuroscience and the related field of bioengineering since the end of World War II. In this paper I provide a short review of the first generation of “neuromorphic devices” created in the 1960s, by focusing on the work of Leon Harmon and his “neuromime,” whose material history overlapped in a very interesting sense with the visual and artistic culture of the second half of the 20th century.

scholarly journals Catecholamines: Knowledge and understanding in the 1960s, now, and in the future

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 239821281881068 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Clare Stanford ◽  
David J. Heal
Keyword(s):  
First Generation ◽  
Dopaminergic Transmission ◽  
Hyperactivity Disorder ◽  
Rational Development ◽  
Technological Developments ◽  
Neuronal Transmission ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
New Treatments ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Distribution Of Noradrenaline

The late 1960s was a heyday for catecholamine research. Technological developments made it feasible to study the regulation of sympathetic neuronal transmission and to map the distribution of noradrenaline and dopamine in the brain. At last, it was possible to explain the mechanism of action of some important drugs that had been used in the clinic for more than a decade (e.g. the first generation of antidepressants) and to contemplate the rational development of new treatments (e.g. l-dihydroxyphenylalanine therapy, to compensate for the dopaminergic neuropathy in Parkinson’s disease, and β1-adrenoceptor antagonists as antihypertensives). The fact that drug targeting noradrenergic and/or dopaminergic transmission are still the first-line treatments for many psychiatric disorders (e.g. depression, schizophrenia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) is a testament to the importance of these neurotransmitters and the research that has helped us to understand the regulation of their function. This article celebrates some of the highlights of research at that time, pays tribute to some of the subsequent landmark studies, and appraises the options for where it could go next.

Wave of the Future? Reconsidering the Neuroscientific Turn in Art History

Leonardo ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-31
Author(s):  
Kate Mondloch
Keyword(s):  
Art History ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Human Experience ◽  
The Body ◽  
History Taking ◽  
Brain Science ◽  
Works Of Art ◽  
Brain Sciences ◽  
The Brain

This essay examines the much-contested “neuroscientific turn” in art history, taking the cues of the best of the turn while rejecting its false starts. The most promising transdisciplinary encounters spanning the brain sciences and the humanities begin from the premise that human experience is embodied, but the “body” itself is interwoven across biological, ecological, phenomenological, social and cultural planes. Certain media artworks critically engaged with neuroscience productively model such an approach. Taking Mariko Mori’s brainwave interface and multimedia installation Wave UFO (1999–2002) as a case study, the author explores how works of art may complicate and augment brain science research as well as its dissemination into other social and cultural arenas.

What's All This Furor About an Enchanted Loom?

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 114-118
Author(s):  
Raymond Forbes
Keyword(s):  
Social Sciences ◽  
Science Field ◽  
Brain Science ◽  
Brain Sciences ◽  
The Social ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
The Brain

This article explores the gowing interconnections between the brain sciences and the social sciences, It porvides a brief historical summary of the development of brain science, reviews advances in what is currently known about the brain, and dfdescribes where the field stands today. Importantly for those interested in the social sciences, the article also discusses the potential impact of the brain sciences on work in the discipline, indicates why we should care about developments in the brain science field, and provides some practical tools that have come out of the resrarxh, The article concludes with a summary of what the developments might mean for a social sciences practitioner.

The birth of the neuromolecular gaze

2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 11-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joelle M. Abi-Rached ◽  
Nikolas Rose
Keyword(s):  
Intellectual Development ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Institution Building ◽  
New Thought ◽  
Brain Sciences ◽  
History Of ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Object Of Study ◽  
The Brain

The aim of this article is (1) to investigate the ‘neurosciences’ as an object of study for historical and genealogical approaches and (2) to characterize what we identify as a particular ‘style of thought’ that consolidated with the birth of this new thought community and that we term the ‘neuromolecular gaze’. This article argues that while there is a long history of research on the brain, the neurosciences formed in the 1960s, in a socio-historical context characterized by political change, faith in scientific and technological progress, and the rise of a molecular gaze in the life sciences. They flourished in part because these epistemological and technological developments were accompanied by multiple projects of institution-building. An array of stakeholders was mobilized around the belief that breakthroughs in understanding the brain were not only crucial, they were possible by means of collaborative efforts, cross-disciplinary approaches and the use of a predominantly reductionist neuromolecular method. The first part of the article considers some of the different approaches that have been adopted to writing the history of the brain sciences. After a brief outline of our own approach, the second part of the article uses this in a preliminary exploration of the birth of the neurosciences in three contexts. We conclude by arguing that the 1960s constitute an important ‘break’ in the long path of the history of the brain sciences that needs further analysis. We believe this epistemological shift we term the ‘neuromolecular gaze’ will shape the future intellectual development and social role of the neurosciences.

Integrating Mind and Brain Science

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Kaplan
Keyword(s):  
Complex Relationship ◽  
Brain Science ◽  
The Core ◽  
Psychological Science ◽  
Brain Sciences ◽  
Mind And Brain ◽  
Similarities And Differences ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Primary Strategy

There is growing appreciation that understanding the complex relationship between neuroscience and psychological science is of fundamental importance to achieving progress across these scientific domains. One primary strategy for addressing this issue centers around understanding the nature of explanation in these different domains. This chapter provides a field guide to some of the core topics that have shaped and continue to influence the debate about explanation and integration across the mind and brain sciences. In addition to surveying the overall intellectual terrain, it also introduces the main proposals defended in the individual chapters included in the volume and highlights important similarities and differences between them.

Recasting Neuropsychiatry: Freud's ‘Critical Introduction’ and the Convergence of French and German Brain Science

2012 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katja Guenther
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Medicine ◽  
Scientific Work ◽  
Brain Science ◽  
Two Cultures ◽  
Brain Sciences ◽  
The Two Cultures ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
German Model ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Brain

Freud's ‘Critical Introduction’ has many of the markers of a purely neuroanatomical text. But a comparison with contemporary anatomical writings as well as an analysis of the larger scientific, clinical and institutional context of Freud's work suggests important differences. Freud's manuscript was an ambitious enterprise to reform the brain sciences of the 1880s to open them up to nervous conditions that were only poorly accounted for by the predominant German model of a somatically informed psychiatry. It marks an attempt to bridge the two cultures of French and German-speaking neurology, as well as scientific and clinical medicine. By navigating these different contexts, the text provides a clue to the relationship between Freud's early scientific work and his developing psychoanalysis.

scholarly journals The Spirit of Fluxus as a Nomadic Art Movement

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 88
Author(s):  
S.E. Wilmer
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Conceptual Art ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
Art And Architecture ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Second World ◽  
The Brain

Fluxus was the brain-child of a Lithuanian-born artist named George Maciunas whose family fled to Germany in the Second World War, where they eventually became displaced persons and later emigrated to the USA. Maciunas studied art and architecture in Pittsburgh and New York before working as an architect and graphic artist and founded the Fluxus movement at the beginning of the 1960s. During his student years, he became fascinated by nomadic art in Asia and Eastern Europe that would later influence his life’s work. This essay considers the relationship between his interest in nomadism and the nature of the Fluxus movement that spread across the world, breaking down barriers between art and life, privileging concrete and conceptual art, and staging unusual events. It applies Braidotti’s notion of the nomadic subject to Maciunas’ encouragement of radical styles of performance art, such as Yoko Ono’s minimalist conceptual work and Joseph Beuys’s Tatar-influenced use of fat and felt.

Philosophy and the Brain Sciences: Confrontation or Merger?

1980 ◽  
Vol 25 (12) ◽  
pp. 1008-1009
Author(s):  
DAVID L. WILSON
Keyword(s):  
Brain Sciences ◽  
The Brain

Shaping the Brain: Science or Politics?

PsycCRITIQUES ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
James P. Schmidt
Keyword(s):  
Brain Science ◽  
The Brain

The Core of What the Brain Does

PsycCRITIQUES ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 62 (44) ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. Kreiner
Keyword(s):  
The Core ◽  
The Brain
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