A Neuroimage Is Worth a Thousand Transformations: The Deceptive Epistemic Value of Neuroimagery

The enigma of the mind has enticed scientists, philosophers, and artists throughout history. Its universality binds us together, but its potential for plasticity enables an infinite range of human uniqueness. As an essential, defining component of human life, it is necessarily connected to all that life constitutes. The introduction of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and the related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in the latter part of the 1970s revolutionized the manner in which scientists investigate the structure and function of the brain. These neuroimaging techniques rely on the intrinsic spin of protons in water molecules and the differential signal resulting from atoms of different tissues and of oxygenated versus deoxygenated blood. MRI and fMRI can be performed on a live, conscious individual and have relatively good spatial and temporal resolution. In contrast, earlier investigational methods relied either on post-mortem analysis that divorced the brain from its in-vivo elegance, o