Investigates the epistemic functions of neuroimaging, that is, uses of brain imaging and visualisation for the purposes of knowledge production in medicine and neuroscience.

The project Operational Brain Atlases investigates dynamic brain atlases as diagnostic tools and as research tools. It undertakes a study of current attempts to integrate structural and functional brain data in digital brain atlases. These atlases, which permit generalisations across multiple instances and which create a new average brain, raise a number of questions. What, for instance, is the relation between phenomena revealed through these composite, generalised scans and the singular scans of particular (deviant) brains? Atlases permit new ways of seeing the brain in terms of variability, opening up to normative questions relating to the administration of difference. Considered as sites of convergence of features of the brain, what role will these atlases play in defining notions of self? The project is a doctoral research project conducted by Rita Elmkvist Nilsen.

Taking its point of departure in current uses of computational methods for brain modelling and simulation, the project Computational Brain Modelling sets out to investigate the way in which different visual artefacts, ranging from images to networks and simulation visualisations, are woven into the entire modelling and simulating process, serving both as input and output. To what extent are the visual artefacts taken to be representations, and if so, of what and why? What are the features and what is the role of the discourse of representation in the computational neurosciences? The project is conducted by Annamaria Carusi.

Investigates the prosthetic functions of neuroimaging, that is, uses of brain imaging and visualisation as surgical tools augmenting the perceptual and actional range of surgeons.

Navigating the Brain Minimally invasive surgery is characterized by the way that the surgical field is accessible only indirectly through non-invasive imaging technologies, endoscopes and remote-controlled instruments. Present-day surgeons perform operations by interacting with complex augmented reality set-ups, handling the scopes and interacting with screens displaying image information from multiple sources. The subproject investigates image-guided surgery as an embodied and technologically embedded practice, focusing on the transformational and constitutive roles played by the images involved. What are the gains and losses of image-guided surgery, with respect to the surgeon’s performance, in comparison to open surgery? How do neurosurgeons negotiate between different sets of (sometimes discrepant) image data? The project is conducted by Aud Sissel Hoel.

The project Surgical Simulation investigates the potential for using telepresence and 3D technologies in surgery, including the use of simulators as training tools for surgeons or as tools in preoperative planning. The aim is to develop tools for assessing the surgeon’s experience in a qualitative way and to develop models and simulations for further improving the visualisations. This involves developing a methodology for subjective testing and comparison of synthetic systems as compared to real surgery. In undertaking this task, the project will further develop existing platforms for quality assessment in the convergence of information technology, digital communication and entertainment, extracting the general nature of these solutions and applying them to surgery. The project is a doctoral research project conducted by Jordi Puig.

Investigates the rhetorical functions of neuroimaging, that is, the communicative and persuasive roles played by brain images within the fields of medicine and science as well as in the wider socio-cultural context.

The Evidential Force of Brain Images The paradox concerning the seeming accessibility of brain images and the difficulties involved in interpreting them is familiar to image researchers. Photography has, since its inception, been riddled with similar problems. The arguments in favour of photography’s alleged privilege are strikingly similar to arguments concerning present-day neuroimaging, both revolving around metaphors of transparent windows. The parallel goes even further, since there are also striking similarities between the current enterprise of brain mapping and historical attempts at transforming photography into a scientific instruments through archiving and databasing. The project explores these similarities (and some striking differences) between photography and brain images, and proceeds from these to a discussion of recent attempts of using fMRI as lie detector – an applied use of neuroimaging which pushes the question of the medico-legal evidential status of photographs and brain images to the forefront. The project is conducted by Liv Hausken.

Critical Neuroimaging is a joint book project that deals with overarching questions that concerns the project as a whole. Hence, this is a joint subproject that will be conducted by most project participants, including contributions from Scientific Advisory Committee members, collaborators, and others. It investigates the aesthetics of neuroimaging with a view to its persuasive function, and proceeds to questions concerning the changing notions of objectivity. It also explores the extent to which neuroimaging drives the study of the human mind into brain biology. Does neuroimaging strengthen arguments for biological determinism? To what extent does neuroscience contribute to a rhetoric of determinism in the public and cultural domain, and to what extent does it assume that rhetoric itself?

Experiments with modes of integrating science, technology and society by providing open-ended explorations of neuroimaging technologies through artistic interventions. To be conducted by artists in residence, in collaboration with research team, science and technology partners, and TEKS – Trondheim Electronic Arts Centre. This work package cuts across the other three, serves a dual function: (i) as an arena for experimenting with ways of integrating science, technology and society through artistic intervention, and (ii) as a project arena for (self-) reflexivity and dialogue.

The activities relating to this work package cluster around two explorative workshops. These events gather all project participants, including science and technology partners, international partners and scientific advisory committee members. This variegated group of people will be joined by invited artists (two or three for each workshop), the task of which is to engage with and respond to the project’s guiding questions and ongoing research. The visiting artists will be given access to laboratories and technology design workspaces of our science and technology partners Q2S and the Operating Room of the Future. The artists are supposed to team up with members of the research team, formulate concrete tasks of relevance to the project and solve them, preferably with a presentable result, within a practicable time span. Other project participants will study the interactions that will take place. The exploration laboratory is managed by Andrew Perkis.