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Article:
Daten, Bilder: Weltanschauungen. Über die Rhetorik von Bildern in der Hirnforschung

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Abstract

Since the 1970s, the technical development of functional brain imaging has made considerable progress. Despite the high technical level of Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRT), the related epistemological and semiotical problems have hardly been analysed. This article begins with a description of the technical basis of PET and fMRT. Subsequently, the epistemological problems of these procedures and their semiotic structures are outlined. The following hypotheses are brought up for discussion: The pictures produced in functional brain imaging are symbols and are therefore subject to specific semiotic problems. The semiotics of the described procedures are connotative. PET/fMRT pictures do not denote the source of the signal (the brain), but are exemplifying symbols giving room to a wide range of interpretations, which stand in contrast to the implied lack of ambiguity. This is why this technology is susceptible to non-scientific questions and interpretations – a problem which has accompanied brain science ever since its inception.

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Grau, Alexander: Daten, Bilder: Weltanschauungen. Über die Rhetorik von Bildern in der Hirnforschung. In: IMAGE. Zeitschrift für interdisziplinäre Bildwissenschaft, Jg. 2 (2006), Nr. 2, S. 58-70.http://dx.doi.org/10.25969/mediarep/16670
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The item has been published with the following license: Unter Urheberrechtsschutz