PERSPECTIVES

TV commercial for the antidepressant ser- S C I E N C E A N D S O C I E T Y traline (Zoloft), or video games advocating brain training, can all be classified as prod- Neuroculture ucts of neuroculture (TABLE 1). Neurocultural products symbolise the transfer of neu- roscience’s idioms from the laboratory to Giovanni Frazzetto and Suzanne Anker society and culture. They create and inspire Abstract | Neuroscience addresses questions that, if resolved, will reveal aspects of narratives about current neuroscience our individuality. Therefore neuroscientific knowledge is not solely constrained research and about the crucial role of the brain in our lives. within laboratories, but readily captures the attention of the public at large. Ideas, Neurocultural products not only draw concepts and images in neuroscience widely circulate in culture and are portrayed inspiration from the beauty and wonders of in literature, film, works of , the mass media and commercial products, therefore brain anatomy and mechanisms, but also shaping social values and consumer practices. The interaction between art and have the power to critically address neuro- science offers an opportunity to make the scientific community and the public aware science findings, as well as their meaning and implications for society and thus, serve of the social and ethical implications of the scientific advances in neuroscience. as an interface between neuroscience and its public perception. Artists in particular draw The rise and meaning of a ‘neuroculture’ daily lives, social practices and intellectual on publicly available references that illus- Despite the intricacy and complexity, its discourses1-3. For instance, the dissemina- trate, among other things, scientific images substance and technical details, neuroscience tion of neuroscience theories, the availability and the natural world. In neuroculture, such research engages the interest and curiosity of of psychotropic medications and the latest references specifically describe knowledge the general public. This is hardly surprising neurotechnologies, such as fMRI (functional about the brain and mind. Hence neuro- as neuroscience carries promises of revealing magnetic resonance imaging), are influenc- cultural products become metaphors to the underpinnings of our individuality, such ing healthcare strategies and legal policies describe and interpret neuroscience knowl- as emotions, consciousness, the way we make as well as ways in which individuals think edge embedded in social values and decisions and our socio–psychological inter- of themselves, their bodies or their mental competing cross-cultural norms within actions. Advances in brain research, such disorders4. For example, we relate aggressive divergent societies. as the discovery of mirror neurons, thought and criminal behaviour to dysfunctional fir- In recent years, a new field of research to be involved in imitation, the recognition ing in the pre-frontal cortex, brain images branded neuroaesthetics has proposed that of intentions and empathy, the neural cor- are used as evidence in court, it has become the conception, execution or apprecia- relates of moral choices or the molecules that common to consider depression and sadness tion of visual art follows the ‘laws of the consolidate or erase memories, strike us as as a serotonin imbalance and to refer to the brain’11,12,13,14. . In other words, it considers remarkable not only as scientific develop- release of endorphins when talking about the subjective aspect of aesthetic experi- ments per se, but also for their outreaching the sensation of pleasure from the ences in the creation and appreciation of art societal and cultural repercussions. consumption of chocolate or sex. works to be superimposed upon common Since the 1990s, various domains of As part of this transformation, ideas, and universal neural circuits. As opposed to knowledge have acquired a ‘neuro’ dimen- images and concepts of neuroscience are neuroaesthetics, neuroculture is concerned sion: branches of the social sciences and increasingly assimilated into the cultural with all forms of art (not only the visual humanities with their own intrinsic set of imagenary1,5-7. Here, we specifically describe ) and does not seek to understand art consensus and interpretation have been how neuroscience is captured in the artistic neuroscientifically. It encapsulates social and epistemically re-assessed and surrendered and commercial creations circulating in the cultural values that arise and evolve with to more reductionist approaches generated public domain. The range of neuroscientific our understanding of the nervous system. by the hype around neuroscience. We have ideas and concepts referred to in this paper We regard the neuroaesthetics approach as observed the emergence of novel disciplines include neuronal visualisation techniques, another form of a neurocultural product, such as neuroeconomics, neurotheology and investigations into consciousness by brain confirming the expansion of the remit of neuroeducation, whose investigations into imaging as well as techniques of brain neuroscience into the previously separated various spheres of enterprise are ulti- intervention and psychopharmacological realms of knowledge and scholarship. mately premised on the search for underlying remedies. Certainly, the circulation of concepts neural correlates. Ian McEwan’s novel ‘Saturday’8, films and theories about brain function and In general, we are witnessing the rise of such as ‘The Man With Two Brains’9 or the mind in the public domain and their a neuroculture (or neurocultures), in which ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’10 representation in artistic creations is not neuroscience knowledge partakes in our drug advertisements, such as the animated a recent phenomenon. However, because

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of the escalating attention, resources and traced to productions from the 1930s and uniqueness. The artist’s hands hold the hopes invested in the advancement of the B-grade science fiction movies of the brain on a silk tissue, whose folds suggest neuroscience, it is timely to document the 1950 –1970s15,16. the convolutions of the gray matter. The current state of this cultural phenomenon, Such cinematographic productions tackle image evokes the notion of brainhood and of trace its origins and highlight its role in the problem of personal identity free of the cerebral subject as the artist reflects upon fostering reflections on the social and ethi- rationally based epistemic constraints and her own individuality and history. The image cal implications of science. Here, we aim to without the obligation of reaching defen- tells us that an individual’s identity cannot be make the neuroscience research commu- sible conclusions. In ‘Donovan’s Brain’17, a reduced to the brain and that a complemen- nity aware of the importance of a mutually brain extracted from a billionaire’s body is tary, more personal understanding beneficial dialogue between science and kept alive and maintains the autonomy and of the self co-exists with a brain-centred society, as explored through public culture features of his self. Steve Martin’s hilarious interpretation. and the arts. and more recent comedy ‘The Man With Two Brains’9 also reflects the absurd- Gene versus brain based accounts of self Brainhood: brains as selves ity and fictional complications of brain The brain is not the only biological entity Pertinent to neuroculture and underlying transplantation. to have inspired art and to have influenced many of its relevant products is the notion The work of contemporary visual culture. With the publication of the Human of brainhood, or the regard of the brain as artists also associates the brain with identity. Genome Project in 2000, a general reduc- the primary bodily organ, which we need in However, at the same time, it often chal- tionist enthusiasm heralded the gene and the order to assert our identities7. Unlike other lenges the notion of the cerebral subject by genome as the remit for identity and person- organs in the body, the brain is regarded as highlighting a human being’s individual- hood19.20. Double helices, and irreplaceable in its function to confer ity and history, which cannot be reduced genes became iconic images, controversially personhood. This feature of ‘being’, rather to a single organ. In 2003, with the aim of representing the essence of human beings21,22. than ‘having’, a brain is what defines human achieving immortality, conceptual artist For example, Marc Quinn’s ‘Sir John Sulston: beings as cerebral subjects. As science his- Jonathon Keats put his brain, as well as its A Genomic Portrait’ (2001), a display of torian Fernando Vidal put it, the idea of original thoughts, up for sale. To comply bacterial colonies grown from fragments of the cerebral subject is a pre-requisite not a with the conventional rules of commercial Sulston’s DNA, symbolises the instructive corollary of neuroscientific investigation, markets, he registered his brain as a sculp- power of the gene in embodying the subject. and can be traced back to philosophies ture created by himself through the act of If we compare differences and similari- about personal identity postulated in the thinking. He then facilitated the sale by ties between the genome and the brain as 17th century (for a historical outlook see producing an exhibition and catalogue at two instantiations of self-identity, we would Supplementary information S1 (box)). the San Francisco Modernism Gallery. The argue that the brain is a more relevant Paralleling witty philosophical thought- artwork consists of MRI images of his brain metaphor representing the self 23. First, experiments, fictional narratives of activity as he thought about art, beauty, love on a quantitative measure of complexity brain transplantations have appeared in and death18. the brain by far exceeds the genome. The countless examples, especially in film. In Helen Chadwick’s Self-portrait (1991; human genome has fewer genes than ini- Cinematographic material is an especially FIG. 1), two hands cradle a brain, as an tially anticipated. Its informational content rich domain in which the recent cultural offering or devotional gesture that sanc- is encoded as a combination of four nucle- history of the ‘cerebral subject’ can be tions the organ as sacred and underlines its otides. RNA alternative splicing, expression

Table 1 | Neurocultural products Art category Product Artist/Author Film Brainstorm Wood, 1983 Donovan’s Brain Feist, 1953 The Man with Two Brains Reiner, 1983 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Gondry, 2004 Prozac Nation Skjoldbjaerg, 2001 Literature Saturday McEwan, 2005 Neuromancer Gibson, 1984 The Corrections Franzen, 2001 Prozac Diary Slater, 1999 Television The Brain Kirkby, 2002 Advertisement for Zoloft www.zoloft.com Education and entertainment BrainAgeTM Nintendo Magic Forest Andrew Carnie, 2002 Self-portrait Chadwick, 1991 fMRI Butterfly Suzanne Anker, 2008 Untitled Daniel Margulies, Chris Sharp, 2008 Between a Thing and a Thought Susan Aldworth, 2001 Lullaby Spring Damien Hirst, 2002 Cradle to the Grave Susie Freeman, Liz Lee and David Critchley, You must get out more, Mrs. Jones 2006 Pharmacopoeia Art

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extraordinary pictures of neuronal circuitry, neuroradiological investigation of her own rivalling artistic representations27,28. Andrew brain because of a suspected haemorrhage, Carnie’s ‘Magic Forest’ (2002), evokes Cajal’s she writes: ‘I still cannot escape the thought technique and modern confocal microscopy that I am seeing all this and thinking all to depict the changing organization of neu- this because of the very thing that I am rons in the growing brain as a landscape of looking at’. ‘The brain is a very strange and memories (Supplementary information S2 marvellous thing. It is not like the heart or (figure)). a kidney, it is thinking flesh’30. Aldworth is Since the 1990s, brain imaging technolo- interested in theories of personhood and the gies, such as fMRI, have enabled to image phenomenon of consciousness. In her work brain activity in real time. Visual artists are ‘Between a Thing and a Thought’ (2001; fascinated with such technologies and the FIG. 2a), Aldworth arranges in a wood and iconic power of its computer-generated glass tri-panelled screen a series of drawn- imagery, which has been said to reflect how upon brain scans. In this freestanding work ‘the water of the physical brain is turned into she puts images of her own brain on display the wine of consciousness’29. incorporating transparency as a metaphor In their ‘Untitled’ work (2008) Daniel for the exposed self. Figure 1| Helen Chadwick (1991) Self- Margulies and Chris Sharp make use of Suzanne Anker’s employment of MRI portrait. Reproduced with permission from the fMRI recordings to map brain activity in a scans is less an exploration of identity than Leeds Museums and Galleries (Henry Moore subject who, after having ruminated upon an occasion to provoke reflection on the Institute Archive). a passage about knowledge and perception processes of image production, their mean- from Kant’s ‘Critique of Judgment’ listens ing and interpretation. In ‘fMRI Butterfly’ to Stravinsky’s ‘Rite of Spring’. Their video (2008; FIG. 2b), 15 seemingly unspecified of non-coding regions and other shows a cross-section of a brain with chang- and identical brain scans are arranged in possibilities for gene modifications bring ing patterns of colours in the areas that light a grid. At the centre of each frame is an complexity to the genome. In addition, up during the experience. A copy of Kant’s image of a butterfly, on each of which Anker increasing evidence shows that genes seminal text and headphones channelling superimposes a different reproduction of a undergo structural epigenetic changes that Stravinsky are available to participants, who Rorschach-test-type inkblots. The overlays mark genomes with a distinctive history of can identify and ‘perform’ along with the of the butterfly, MRI scans and inkblots their own. The different brain structures experiment. yield nuanced variations in figure–ground and functions equip this organ with a The paradoxical mirroring nature of relationships, creating in the viewer subtle complexity that is not reducible to simple contemplating a brain in action is also optical illusions. In effect, although the but- combinatorial rules. Second, the brain eloquently captured by visual artist Susan terflies are identical in each print, they seem provides a dynamic material edifice for Aldworth. In one of her diary entries, different from one another. The complex the repository of human identity due to its where she reflects on her experience with a system of the superimposed images evokes inherent singularity and uniqueness. The incessantly changing structure and synaptic organization of the brain is the result of a a b continuous interplay of external contingent socio–environmental stimuli (that may drive epigenetic events) and internal proc- esses that result in unique neuronal net- works23. However, even if a neuroscientific understanding of the self is currently pre- vailing in the public domain, it is not exclu- sive as neuroscience encompasses , cell and molecular , psychiatry and cognitive and behavioural studies.

The water of the brain… The exquisiteness of brain anatomy and other structures of the nervous system, par- ticularly the intricate and complex forms of dendritic branching, have captivated visual imagination since their delineation by Ramon y Cajal24. In recent years, rapid advances in neuroimaging technologies have aimed to visualise cellular processes of devel- opmental and functional significance in the living brain25,26. The brainbow system, a Figure 2 | fMRI images in visual art. a | Susan Aldworth (2001) Between a Thing and a Thought. Nature Reviews | Neuroscience sophisticated transgenic technique, provided b | Suzanne Anker (2008) fMRI Butterfly. Images are courtesy of the artists.

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the underlying neurological processes at The ‘neurochemical self’ astronauts and firemen. Virtual reality is also work in perception. This visual experience The ascension to elevated mental states or extensively used in the context of neuroedu- also underscores the non-univocal charac- techniques of self-intervention to modify cation or in cognitive therapy. One example ter of functional neuroimages and reminds behaviour or alter mental capacities and per- is phobia desensitisation that lets patients us that these are end products of complex formance have been sought for a long time. overcome their fears by virtual exposure numerical data processing that involve We aim to achieve peace of mind through to the circumstances that trigger them37,38. intuition and interpretation on part of the meditation, exercise or by listening to music, Virtual reality instances are also commercially scientist. we skilfully aspire to improve our cognitive available as video game desktop interfaces. Confidence in the power of this technol- capacity by playing chess or memorising Similarly, neuroplasticity, that is, the brain’s ogy has spurred a search for the underlying poems. Pursuits of this kind have become ability to change itself by remodelling nerve neural correlates of cooperation and com- subject of neuroscientific examination seek- cell connections after experience, has become petition, violence or religious experience, ing to understand how enriched settings can an emblem supporting video games, such as each of which carry ethical, legal, social lead to changes in the brain. Nintendo’s BrainAgeTM, that aim to enhance and policy implications31. Commercial ven- mental fitness and prevent age-related tures, from neuromarketing to brain-based Virtual reality. In the 1980s ‘Star Trek’ memory decline. In both cases, fictional and lie detection, are banking on the scientific series, the starship ‘holodeck’ enabled its utopian representations of mind-altering tech- aura of brain imaging to attract customers. users to experience anything they wanted niques have served as inspiration for the inten- Findings from neuroimaging studies have by recreating objects and people through sification of efforts in this field, confirming a been illustrated and discussed in a myriad of a combination of matter replication, force dialogue between science and culture. cover stories in both scientific and popular fields, beams and holographic images. In magazines. The purpose of brain mapping Natalie Wood’s feature film ‘Brainstorm’35, Chemical intervention. Deserving special by fMRI has been compared with the phren- a ‘hat’ read sensations from a person’s brain attention is the achievement of mental states ological localisation of mental faculties32. and wrote them on a tape that could be through chemical intervention, a salient Brain images referring to specific mental played back so that any subject could experi- feature in Western culture. In Damien Hirst’s conditions address notions of normality and ence all the sensations of the original viewer. ‘Lullaby Spring’ (2002), a stainless steel cabi- pathology. Virtual reality is now far from fictitious, as net holding 6,136 hand crafted and painted Once disseminated through public media, virtual reality techniques have evolved and are pills, evokes the widespread employment of these images have the power to alter concep- widely applied in behavioural neuroscience to pharmaceutical remedies for every aspect tions of personality and identity. The high- study brain–environment interactions and of health and malady. In this pharmaceutical tech approach of this technology grants this to modify behaviour or enhance cognition36. cornucopia, pills are displayed as products of type of imaging scientific validity and objec- The creation of controlled, sophisticated, vir- scientific craft and are presented as precious tivity among the general public33,34. However, tual settings allows to train individuals in the objects, like gems in a jeweller’s display, or it is noteworthy that fMRI data that reach the use of complex tools or respond to stimuli in sweets on a tray. Similarly, ‘Cradle to the social setting have previously been interpreted simulated environments that would otherwise Grave’ (2006; FIG. 3), a large installation at by scientists and depend on the experimental be too costly or hostile to actualise — as in the the British Museum, explores the pharma- setup and data analyses. case of flight simulation or in the training of ceutical approach to health. Based on com- posite patient records of eight individuals, the installation consists of a lifetime stock of prescribed drugs knitted into two 13-metre long fabrics. Each of them contains over 14,000 drugs (the estimated average pre- scribed to every person in Britain in their lifetime) and represents a sort of ‘pill-diary’ illustrating the medical and pharmaceutical histories of a man and a woman. Almost one thousand pills in the diary are antidepressants and anxiolytics. Psychotropic medications have altered and eased patient experiences in a range of serious psychiatric disorders. Research efforts are currently being made towards the discovery and commercialization of novel, more effective classes of drugs39. Disseminated knowledge about the biologi- cal substrates of behaviour empowers indi- viduals to manipulate their states of mind through the mere ingestion of such drugs as they understand their emotions and behav- ioural traits in chemical terms. Nikolas Rose Figure 3 | Pharmacopoeia. Susie Freeman, Liz Lee and David Critchley (2006) Cradle to the Grave. asserts that we have become neurochemical Image is courtesy of the artists. selves, and are given the freedom (and

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responsibility) to choose among an extensive Glossary selection of medications optimising our capabilities, performance and adaptations to Brainhood denote how neuroscience has specifically penetrated into 1 the environment40. The condition of being rather than having a brain. Denoting popular culture and artistic expression . a brain-based type of personhood regards the brain as the Artists have frequently experimented only organ in our body that we need in order to be Neuroeconomics with mind-altering substances to determine ourselves (see also Supplementary information S1 (box) Combines the fields of neuroscience, psychology and whether they enhance or diminish creativ- and Further information). It defines human beings as economics for the study of how people evaluate gains, ity. Certain artists have produced work that ‘cerebral subjects’. losses and rewards in economic decision-making. It adopts economic models and brain imaging techniques to either represents the artists’ state of con- Cerebral subject identify the brain areas that become active when making sciousness when creating the work of art, A term used to equate human beings with their brains. a decision. It is to be distinguished from ‘neuromarketing’ or evokes altered states of experience in the that specifically adopts imaging tools to investigate viewer. The drugs of choice have changed Cultural imaginary customer choices for marketing purposes (for example, as culture has evolved41. In the 1950s, the Term defined by the cultural historian Graham Dawson as a the study of brain responses to TV commercials). set of ‘discursive themes, images, motifs and narrative eclectic artist Henri Michaux tested the forms that are publicly available within a given culture at Neuroeducation effects of the psychedelic drug mescaline any one time, and articulate its psychic and social Aims at developing novel teaching and learning methods on his creativity, by drawing under its influ- dimensions’5. combining pedagogy and findings in neurobiology and ence. Although recognizing its power, he cognitive sciences. It involves the efforts of scientists Neuroaesthetics and teachers and it stresses the importance of early-age condemned mescaline saying that it dimin- The study of art (in its conception, execution and brain modifications for the development of learning ished the imagination and de-sensualised appreciation) and aesthetic experience in neuroscientific capacities and adult behaviour. imagery42. terms16. Fearing the actualisation of Aldous Neurotheology Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’, ethical con- Neurochemical self Investigates neural phenomena underlying the subjective Refers to how, in light of increasing biological knowledge of experience of spiritual phenomena and religious cerns have been raised about whether behaviour, we are recruited to a way of living in which our behaviour, such as prayer or ecstatic trance. It also uses psychotropic drugs should be used to treat life is understood in chemical terms. Rather than implying brain-imaging tools and is based on the assumption of the legitimate disorders or as quick fixes to solve essentialism or determinism, being a neurochemical self universality and consistency of spiritual experiences problems related to the exigencies of the life implies freedom and responsibility to alter our states of across cultures and religions. 43,44,45 mind and choosing among a large selection of means to some individuals aspire to . Moreover, optimise our capacities and performance36. Personhood a growing trend towards medication has Is the condition of being an individual person. It includes increased the number of behaviours that are Neuroculture essential human properties such as consciousness, the labelled as pathological and has influenced Broadly refers to the incorporation of neuroscience ability to reason and self-awareness. public health policies, thus reshaping bound- knowledge into our life, culture and intellectual discourses. Several new terms with a ‘neuro-‘ prefix have been used to Rorschach test 46,47 aries between wellbeing and disease . designate the set of transformations taking place in society Is a psychological test that examines personality By the start of this century, the serotonin in light of advances in neuroscience (for example, characteristics and emotional states on the basis of the selective re-uptake inhibitor (SSRI) Prozac neurosociety). In 2006, we used the term neuroculture to patients’ perception of ambiguous images. became a household word, an epitome of the modern pharmacological remedy, with millions of annual prescriptions, as well as daily chores, the person who is afraid of oth- The collection of diverse neurocultural numerous cult novels, films and memoirs ers, the manager who is under pressure at products (films, literature, the visual arts, as based on it, such as Lauren Slater ‘s mem- work or young people waiting for a positive well as documentaries, news and advertise- oir ‘Prozac Diary’48 and the movie ‘Prozac turn in their lives51-53. Besides the creative ments) contribute to the construction and Nation’49. and interpretative depiction of medications dissemination of brain-based narratives, In works of art, especially through in media advertising, the internet constitutes thus shaping and reconfiguring concepts marketing campaigns, illustrations of psy- another powerful vehicle for drug promo- of human identity and parameters of social chotropic drugs evoke features that align tion, as most available psychotropic medica- life, such as in healthcare and legal policies. with people’s personalities and their lives’ tions have dedicated ‘informative’ websites. The documentation of such products and of aspirations50. ‘You must get out more, Mrs. Hence, through images and narratives in the their public circulation highlight the dense Jones’ (Phamacopoeia-Art Collection), media (mainly advertisements and news) and mixture of social, political and personal is an extravagant, pink and red handbag the arts (film, literature, music and the visual changes that can arise from contemporary with antidepressants and anxiolytics placed arts) the general public is introduced to drugs scientific progress. With our analysis we on its exterior insinuating that the owner that alter brain function, accentuating the aim to raise general issues concerning the requires these drugs to face people and the notion of brainhood in everyday life. relationship between science and culture, outside world. specifically the arts, and its usefulness In printed drug commercials and direct- Conclusions for exploring and facilitating public to-consumer TV advertising (available in the Discoveries in neuroscience are having a understanding of science (FIG. 4). USA and New Zealand), everyday individu- substantial effect on society and are pervad- Neuroscience is a rich source of inspira- als seem in need of the drugs sold to over- ing myriad aspects of our lives. Notions of tion for the arts because of the universality come worries arising from everyday hurdles the brain as a metonym for identity and self of the questions it addresses. In particular, in professional, social or interpersonal are becoming widespread. The significance scientific images that render visible invis- contexts. As in the case of prescriptive SSRIs of this knowledge-transfer from the labora- ible phenomena, such as thought and con- such as Paxil, the range of depicted figures tory to everyday living is exploited, sciousness, arouse artists’ interest. Without include the housewife who cannot cope with represented and interpreted in our culture. offering explicit conclusions, art exposes

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Visual arts, literature, film, music, As writer Jonah Lehrer eloquently states, adverisments, news, documentaries ‘science needs art to frame the mystery, but art needs science so that not everything is a mystery’57.

Neurocultural products facilitate Giovanni Frazzetto is at the BIOS Centre, London School Neuroscience concepts and public understanding of of Economics, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UK. images are articulated in diverse neuroscience. neurocultural products Suzanne Anker is at the Fine Arts Department, , 209 E. 23rd Street, New York 10010, USA.

e-mails: [email protected]; [email protected] doi:10.1038/nrn2736

1. Anker, S. & Frazzetto, G. Neuroculture, an exhibition Neuroscience findings influence at the Westport Arts Center, Westport, CT US. Neuroscience our lives and society Neuroculture [online], www.neuroculture.org laboratories Public and Society (2006). 2. Frazzetto, G. Neural networking in Manhattan. Nature and Scientists Neuroculture promotes scientists’ awareness 451, 769 (2008). about societal aspects of their work 3. Mora, F. Neurocultura. Una cultura basada en el cerebro. (Alianza Editorial, Madrid, 2007). 4. Abi-Rached, J. The rise of neurosocieties. The ethical, Figure 4 | Representation of the triangular relationship between scientists, arts and the media, social, economic, and political implications of the and the public. This diagram shows how neuroscience concepts and images are articulated in diverse new brain sciences. 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29. McGinn, C. Can we solve the mind-body problem? Mind, 98, 349–366 (1989). I N N OVAT I O N 30. Aldworth, S. Diary entry describing the artist’s experience of a cerebral angiogram [online], www. susanaldworth.com (2001). 31. Illes, J., Kirschen, M. P. & Gabrieli, J. D. From The Allen Brain Atlas: 5 years neuroimaging to neuroethics, Nature Neurosci., 6, 205 (2003). 32. Uttal, W. R. The New Phrenology. The Limits of Localising Cognitive Processes in the Brain (MIT Press, and beyond Cambridge, 2001). 33. Racine, E, Bar-Ilan, O. & Illes, J. fMRI in the public eye, Nature. Rev. Neurosci, 6, 159–156 (2005). Allan R. Jones, Caroline C. Overly and Susan M. Sunkin 34. Dumit, J. Picturing Personhood. Brain Scans and Biomedical Identity (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2004). Abstract | The Allen Brain Atlas, a Web-based, genome-wide atlas of gene expression 35. Wood, N. Brainstorm (1983). 36. Tarr, M. J. & Warren, W. H. 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In addition, technologies for high- brain map for and the mouse” . a sickness (Yale University Press, New Haven, throughput data production, management At that time, as part of the Gene Expression 2007). 2–4 54. Anker, S. & Talasek, J. D (eds) Introduction to Online and informatics were maturing, making Nervous System Atlas (GENSAT) project , Symposium on Visual Culture and Bioscience genome-wide studies and the integration of the National Institute of Neurological (National Academy of Sciences Press, Washington DC, 2008). genomic and neuroanatomical data feasible. Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) was funding 55. Arnold, K. & Wallace, M. Head On: Art with the Brain This article looks back on the 5 years two complementary approaches to map gene in Mind. Exhibition Catalogue (2002). 56. McLennan, R. & Gould, S. State of Mind [online] from the inception of the ABA to the present, expression in the mouse brain: one based www.lse.ac.uk/collections/BIOS/state_of_mind.htm highlighting some of the challenges that were on creating bacterial artificial (2005). 57. Lehrer, J. Proust was a neuroscientist (Houghton faced in executing the project and the con- (BAC)-transgenic mouse reporter lines Books, New York, 2007). tributions that it has made to neuros cience. for individual genes and one developed by Acknowledgements We discuss the advantages and caveats of Gregor Eichele and colleagues at the Max We thank J. Abi-Rached, F. Gillette and the anonymous using this unique resource, discuss how it is Planck Institute in Hannover, Germany, reviewers for their comments on previous versions of this manuscript. currently being used and point to untapped and implemented by Eichele and Christina opportunities for further exploration. Finally, Thaller at the Baylor College of Medicine, we describe the ever-expanding suite of related Texas, USA, using colorimetric ISH to map FURTHER INFORMATION resources that have become available since the gene expression5. Soon thereafter, the NIH Neuroculture website: http://www.neuroculture.org/ Brainhood project: http://www.brainhood.net/ ABA was launched, and comment on those channelled its funding towards the transgenic European Neuroscience and Society Network: http://www. that will be coming in the next few years. mouse effort, which has subsequently gen- neurosocieties.eu/ erated over 800 transgenic reporter mouse SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION Development of the atlas See online article: S1 (box) | S2 (figure) lines, most of which have been deposited ALL LINKS ARE ACTIVE IN THE ONLINE PDF. The ABA has its roots in a series of brain- in the Mutant Mouse Regional Resource storming sessions that began in 2001 and Centers (MMRRC)6.

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