The recent explosion of neuroscience techniques has proved to be game changing in terms of understanding the healthy brain, and in the development of neuropsychiatric treatments. One of the key techniques available to us is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which allows us to examine the human brain non-invasively, and observe brain activity in real time. Through fMRI, we are beginning to build a deeper understanding of our thoughts, motivations, and behaviours. Recent reports that some patients who have all indications of being in a persistent vegetative state actually show conscious awareness, and were able to communicate with researchers, demonstrate perhaps the most remarkable and dramatic use of fMRI. But this is just the most striking of a number of areas in which fMRI is being used to 'read minds', albeit in a very limited way. As neuroscientists unravel the regions of the brain involved in reward and motivation, and in romantic love, we are likely to develop the capacity to influence responses such as love using drugs. fMRI studies have also been used to indicate that many people who would not regard themselves as racist show a racial bias in their emotional responses to faces of another racial group. Meanwhile, the reliability of fMRI as a lie detector in murder cases is being debated - what if the individual simply believes, falsely, that he or she committed a murder? Sex, Lies, and Brain Scans takes readers beyond the media headlines. Barbara J. Sahakian and Julia Gottwald consider what the technique of fMRI entails, and what information it can give us, showing which applications are possible today, and which ones are science fiction. They also consider the important ethical questions these techniques raise. Should individuals applying for jobs as teachers or judges be screened for unconscious racial bias? What if the manipulation of love using 'love potions' was misused for economic or military ends? How far will we allow neuroscience to go? It is time to make up our minds.

This book considers what the technique of fMRI entails, and what information it can give us, showing which applications are possible today, and which ones are science fiction. It also looks at the important ethical questions these techniques raise.

Demonstrates how the explanatory power of brain scans in particular and neuroscience more generally has been overestimated, arguing that the overzealous application of brain science has undermined notions of free will and responsibility.

Explains how to use handwriting analysis to interpret people's character traits, personalities, and backgrounds, and examines the handwriting of such dangerous individuals as Ted Bundy, Jack the Ripper, and Osama bin Laden.

Barbie or Lego? Reading maps or reading emotions? Do you have a female brain or a male brain? Or is that the wrong question? On a daily basis we face deeply ingrained beliefs that our sex determines our skills and preferences, from toys and colours to career choice and salaries. But what does this mean for our thoughts, decisions and behaviour? Using the latest cutting-edge neuroscience, Gina Rippon unpacks the stereotypes that bombard us from our earliest moments and shows how these messages mould our ideas of ourselves and even shape our brains. Rigorous, timely and liberating, The Gendered Brainhas huge repercussions for women and men, for parents and children, and for how we identify ourselves. 'Highly accessible... Revolutionary to a glorious degree' Observer

An Amazon Best Nonfiction Book of the Month Indiebound Bestseller Award-winning science writer Helen Thomson unlocks the biggest mysteries of the human brain by examining nine extraordinary cases Our brains are far stranger than we think. We take it for granted that we can remember, feel emotion, navigate, empathise and understand the world around us, but how would our lives change if these abilities were dramatically enhanced – or disappeared overnight? Helen Thomson has spent years travelling the world, tracking down incredibly rare brain disorders. In Unthinkable she tells the stories of nine extraordinary people she encountered along the way. From the man who thinks he's a tiger to the doctor who feels the pain of others just by looking at them to a woman who hears music that’s not there, their experiences illustrate how the brain can shape our lives in unexpected and, in some cases, brilliant and alarming ways. Story by remarkable story, Unthinkable takes us on an unforgettable journey through the human brain. Discover how to forge memories that never disappear, how to grow an alien limb and how to make better decisions. Learn how to hallucinate and how to make yourself happier in a split second. Find out how to avoid getting lost, how to see more of your reality, even how exactly you can confirm you are alive. Think the unthinkable.

Neuroscience, the study of the structure and function of the brain, has captured our imaginations. Breakthrough technologies permit neuroscientists to probe how the human brain works in ever-more fascinating detail, revealing what happens when we think, move, love, hate, and fear. We know more than ever before about what goes wrong in the brain when we develop psychiatric and neurological illnesses like depression, dementia, epilepsy, panic attacks, and schizophrenia. We also now have clues about how treatments for those disorders change the way our brains look and function. Neuroscience at the Intersection of Mind and Brain has three main purposes. First, it makes complicated concepts and findings in modern neuroscience accessible to anyone with an interest in how the brain works. Second, it explains in detail how every experience we have from the moment we are conceived changes our brains. Third, it advances the idea that psychotherapy is a type of life experience that alters brain function and corrects aberrant brain connections. Among the topics covered are: what makes our brains different from those of other primates, our nearest genetic neighbors? How do life's experiences affect genetic expression of the brain and the way neurons connect with each other? Why are connections between different parts of the brain important in both health and disease? What happens in the brains of animals and humans when we are suddenly afraid of something, get depressed, or fall in love? How do medications and psychotherapies work? The information in this book is based on cutting-edge research in neuroscience, psychiatry, and psychology. Written by an author who studied human behavior and brain function for three decades, it is presented in a highly accessible manner, full of personal anecdotes and observations, and touches on many of the controversies in contemporary mental health practice.