Brainscapes

Starred review from March 22, 2021
Neuroscientist Schwarzlose debuts with a fascinating deep-dive into the “remarkable maps” in the human brain. “I am not being metaphorical or using artistic license; there are actual maps in your brain,” she writes, and explains how those maps, made of interconnected neurons, function. Schwarzlose examines how each of the five senses is translated into perception via brain maps: the maps feature “gross distortions,” she writes, in how the brain perceives and makes sense of the world. These maps also play a role in movement, enabling memory and allowing humans to comprehend emotions. She also describes breakthroughs that enable individuals in apparent vegetative states to communicate through mental imagery and allow paralyzed individuals to control prosthetic devices simply by thinking of motions. She also warns of the double-edged nature of “brain-based” technologies often brushed off as science fiction: they may “empower the powerless, but they might also threaten our privacy and lessen our personal sovereignty.” Schwarzlose’s presentation of cutting-edge science is consistently accessible and concise, as is her historical perspective on early brain research (she describes work on mental imagery used by the founder of eugenics in 1870, noting that his sample only featured aristocratic European men). This is deeply enjoyable and thoroughly researched—science-minded readers should take note. Agent: Katinka Matson, Brockman Literary.

May 1, 2021
A thorough delineation of neural representations, or brain maps, that affect our sensory, motor, cognitive, and emotional capacities. Schwarzlose, a neuroscientist at Washington University in St. Louis, explores literal brain maps, within human and animal brains, comprised of cells. Unlike traditional geographical maps, they are dynamic by virtue of electricity and time. "Neighboring neurons in your brain represent neighboring plots of land on your skin," she writes. "The result? A beautiful, honest-to-goodness map of the surfaces of your body built into your brain." The author uses the metaphor of subway tunnels in not only explaining how brain maps affect our sight and feeling, but also to demonstrate that a map's inherent two-dimensional distortion sometimes makes it better at magnifying important information. "Vision as you know it is born in the darkness at the back of your skull, reflecting what is happening in your visual brain maps more than what is happening in your two eyes," she writes. "This is why it matters so much exactly how your maps are warped: these maps, in turn, warp your conscious perception." Schwarzlose illuminates four primary themes of brain maps: their universality, respective uniqueness, the idea that they are created out of necessity, and their ability to give organisms the opportunity to adapt. Not only are brain maps spatial, but they can also use nonspatial phenomena, such as vibrations, to reveal where a source of sound is located. Human brain maps were discovered in 19th-century London through experiments on patients who experienced seizures and the study of their paths. The parietal lobe, writes the author, holds maps that do not belong to a single category: "They actually combine and align information from touch, vision, and hearing with information about body position and space around the body to which actions might be guided." The scope of the book is staggering, as is the potential of technology's role in decoding minds, and yet Schwarzlose successfully and enthusiastically relays the research in relevant, understandable, and absorbing language. The black-and-white illustrations are also helpful. A digestible, intriguing academic read on a complex subject.

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June 1, 2021

Just as geographic maps represent particular places on Earth, brain maps chart how our bodies interpret and interact with the world. Schwarzlose (neuroscience, Washington Univ., St. Louis) writes in this volume that early research on brain maps emerged from studies of brain damage. She describes many of the brain maps that exist in humans and other animals, sense by sense; she starts with vision, touch, hearing, taste, and smell, then moves on to describe maps for movement, memory, and object recognition, among other processes. Brain maps, essentially comprising interconnected neurons that transmit electrical and chemical signals, are simultaneously universal and utterly unique, she writes. The study of brain maps has concrete applications, like improving neonatal care or enabling people with paraplegia to control prosthetics through thought. She warns that as science learns more about the maps within our brains, we need to be wary of sharing neural data with corporations that are eager to erode our privacy for profit. VERDICT This potentially dense and impenetrable subject is illuminated and rendered comprehensible in Schwarzlose's skilled hands. A fascinating in-depth exploration of the maps contained within our brains. Recommended for science lovers.--Ragan O'Malley, Saint Ann's Sch., Brooklyn

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