41067 - Sociology of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology

Description

George H W Bush declared 1990 to 1999 the “Decade of the Brain” with the goal of enhancing “public awareness of the benefits to be derived from brain research”. However, nearly 35 years later, our understanding of the brain through neuroscience and neurotechnology remains elusive. At the same time the implications of the knowledge production and application of new innovations centered on the brain are impacting society from how we diagnose, treat, and experience conditions associated with the brain to the ways in which neuroscience and technology perpetuate social inequalities or define what constitutes normality and pathology.

The tools of sociology of science and technology offer opportunities to critically interrogate all matters related to the brain, neuroscience, and neurotechnology. We invite empirical and theoretical papers that investigate their social, political, economic, and cultural implications—ranging from institutions to neurons and spanning topics from medical therapeutics to surveillance.

Potential topics include but are not limited to: the political economy of neuroscience, neurotechnology, and innovation; studies of neurology, neuroscientists, and neurotherapies; classification and diagnosis; racism, sexism, and justice in research practice; sensors, monitoring, and social control in the neurosciences; social inequalities in relation to neuroscience; as well as neuroscience's role in mental health discourse. We particularly encourage submissions that explore how neurotechnologies impact marginalized communities, examine the influence of neuroscience on public policy, and discuss the intersections between neuroscience and contemporary discourses surrounding artificial intelligence.

Sub Unit

• Section on Science, Knowledge, and Technology / Sociology of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology

Presider

• Jennifer S. Singh, Georgia Institute of Technology

Individual Presentations

• Brains on chips? Novel Neuroscience and the Limits of Biomedical Models - Melanie Jeske, Baylor College of Medicine

• Exploring neuronal subjectivity and perceptions of mental health treatment in a sample of psychedelic retreat-goers - Logan Neitzke-Spruill, Baylor College of Medicine

• Failure as Perpetual Novelty and Promise: The Neuro-Fiction of Addiction Immunizations - Kristin Kay Barker, University of New Mexico-Albuquerque; Erin Fanning Madden, Wayne State University; Katherine Rickers, University of New Mexico-Albuquerque; Preston L Lowe, University of New Mexico-Albuquerque

• Give me a Patch and I will Create a Market - Yanze Yu, Columbia University

Discussant

• Oliver E. Rollins, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Session Organizers

• Daniel Ray Morrison, University of Alabama in Huntsville

• Torsten H. Voigt, RWTH Aachen University

• Janet Vertesi, Princeton University