Most people find colorful brain scans highly compelling-and yet, many experts don't. This discrepancy begs the question: What can we learn from neuroimaging? Is brain information useful in fields such as psychiatry, law, or education? How do neuroscientists create brain activation maps and why do we admire them? Casting Light on The Dark Side of Brain Imaging tackles these questions through a critical and constructive lens-separating fruitful science from misleading neuro-babble. In a breezy writing style accessible to a wide readership, experts from across the brain sciences offer their uncensored thoughts to help advance brain research and debunk the craze for reductionist, headline-grabbing neuroscience. This collection of short, enlightening essays is suitable for anyone interested in brain science, from students to professionals. Together, we take a hard look at the science behind brain imaging and outline why this technique remains promising despite its seldom-discussed shortcomings.

Why do red placebos stimulate whereas blue placebos calm? Why do more placebos work better than few? And why do more expensive placebos work better than cheaper ones? These are some of the key questions that often come to mind when we consider the slippery and counterintuitive field of placebo science. Rather than consider placebos through the narrow narrative of "sugar pills" in clinical trials, this book provides various perspectives on how psychosocial parameters - such as interpersonal rapport, historical and contemporary context, corporate memory, expectation, empathy, hope, conditioning, symbolic thinking, and suggestion - play a role in forming placebo responses and placebo effects. The book provides modern perspectives on placebos in society, including in education, government, industry, media, and current culture. The editors use three different themes to elucidate and elaborate current conceptualizations of placebos and their accoutrements: the Practioner lens, the Cultural lens, and the lens of placebo science, itself. These accounts by some of the best scholars in the field, make for a cogent triangulation of the qualities and virtues of placebos across a wide range of disciplines relevant to human behavior. Placebo Talks invites readers to discover how placebos may speak to their own experiences across health, society, sustenance, and related aspects of contemporary life.