Neurosciences have been being very popular in France since the early 1980’s, thanks to acclaimed authors such as Jean-Pierre Changeux, Jean-Didier Vincent or Boris Cyrulnik. But this popularity cannot be fully understood if one does not take into account the multiple determination of the word « brain » in the public sphere. The study of the diffusion (through publishing or press) of neuroscientific discourses shows that their social visibility does not only come from the indeniable progress of research, but also from more global ideological and social evolutions, especially within mainstream cultural producers. Thus, the promotion of neurosciences on the French intellectual scene could have taken advantage of the tendency of some cultural go-betweens to consider social issues in an individualizing and psychologizing way.