Lie Detectors That Can Read Your Mind While many studies have shown the ineffectiveness of polygraph lie detectors for determining people’s truthfulness, courtrooms still look to science for help in assessing the testimony of suspects and witnesses. Now, neuroscience may be the key, enabling a new breed of lie detectors that look directly into subjects’ brains. An fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging) device registers blood flow within a subject’s brain to map its activity—the more blood that an area of the brain is getting, the more active it is. This differs completely from a polygraph lie detector, which measures pulse, heart rate, breath rate, and any perspiration. In a paper for the International Journal of Liability and Scientific Inquiry, law professors Edward Johnston and Daniel Jasinki of University of the West of England discuss the use of fMRI in criminal proceedings. They suggest that investigators could use fMRI to evaluate which areas of a witness’s brain light up during an interrogation: More activity in the memory area could indicate honesty; more activity in the creativity area would suggest fibbing. Such tests could also gauge jurors’ emotional responses, thus detecting bias. This fMRI-based evidence is not yet admissible in British courts, but some international and U.S. courts are considering it. Johnston and Jasinki think that more may follow suit. In one study, interrogators found the fMRI readings to be more than 99% accurate in telling whether a subject was being honest while answering questions. As science and technology accelerate, society needs to be vigilant about their impacts, the researchers note. Indeed, for the sake of our adversarial criminal justice system, it is important for the law to keep up,” Johnston and Jasinski conclude. — Rick Docksai inderscience/info/inarticle.php?artid=60843
Posted on: Tue, 03 Jun 2014 19:43:39 +0000
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