Mapping the Mind

Mapping The Mind shows how the latest scans, which reveal thoughts, memories – even our moods – as clearly as an X-ray reveals our bones, can be used to help explain aspects of our behaviour, and how behavioural eccentricities can be traced to abnormalities in an individual brain. We can watch a person’s brain literally light up as it registers a joke, or glow dully when it recalls an unhappy memory. In this acclaimed book Rita Carter draws on the latest in brain imaging to give extraordinary insights into how the brain works. Dyslexia, for example, may be caused by a short-circuit in the messages converting sound to visual cues ; addiction, eating disorders and alcoholism stem from dysfunction in the brain’s reward system ; violent criminals may begin life with a small neurological fault.