Essay Assignment II
Nov. 28th, 2012
Discuss whether the functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is a new form of “phrenology”. Is it reliable enough to be used as evidence in court?
After fMRI was first introduced, it has been under criticism that it is not hard science. The most common technique, the BOLD (blood oxygen level-dependent) fMRI, measures the increase in regional cerebral blood flow in response to increased metabolism, which is to be caused from heightened activity of neuron firing (Menon & Kim, 1999). Some neurologists believe that this is an indirect way of measuring brain activity, and is not sufficient to support any idea.
By many scientists fMRI is often compared to phrenology, a study that once gained
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However, the juries should be made aware that fMRI scan is an arbitrarily interpreted output, and contain risks of erroneous conclusions. I believe fMRI will gain stronger grounds in the court later in the future though, with the advance of technology as mentioned above.
Some compare neurologists with fMRI to molecular biologists with light microscopes (Jaffe, 2004), for the reason that the capacity of fMRI is not sufficient for neurological study. It must be taken into account that later light microscopes evolved to electron microscopes, meaning that also fMRI will offer improved spatial and temporal information in the future. Its potential must be acknowledged, and in the meantime there should be efforts to find complementary analysis methods (Hubbard, 2003).
References
Dobbs, D. (2005). Fact or Phrenology? Scientific American Mind, Vol.16, p.24-31.
Jaffe, S. (2004). Fake Method for Research Impartiality (fMRI): behavioral Sciences bid for enhanced status falls short. The Scientist, Vol.18, p.64.
Hughes, V. (2010, March 18). Head Case. Nature, Vol.464, p.340-342.
Fodor, Jerry A. (1983). Modularity of Mind: An Essay on Faculty Psychology. MIT Press. p.14-23
Hubbard, E. (2003). A discussion and review of Uttal (2001) The New Phrenology. Cognitive Science Online, Vol.1, p. 22-33.
Menon, R., & Kim, S. (1999). Spatial and temporal limits in cognitive neuroimaging with fMRI.Trends in Cognitive Science, Vol.3, p.
Bersstein, D.A., Roy, E.J., Srull, T.K. and Wickens, C.D. (1991). Psychology. 2nd Edition. Boston: Houston Mifflin Company.
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Humans have used deception and trickery as a means of protection, survival, and personal gain from the very beginning. At the primitive level this deception was required, for example, by using camouflage to catch prey. Move forward several thousand years, and human deception can result in massive profit gains, injury or death to others, and identity fraud, among many others. Across different civilizations a variety of techniques were devised to seek the truth from those who wished to deceive others. Currently a new technology aims to more accurately read minds by using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, or fMRI, by mapping the brain’s activity. The implications of this technology are immense; however there are many ethical hurdles to be crossed before it can become more mainstream. This paper examines the practicality as well as the ethical hurdles of using fMRI for lie detection.
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The researchers use fMRI to examined the brain activity of FFA, they showed the variety of images that have a different context.
In the past few years the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging has exploded and it has really over-flooded the market in terms of its applicability. There are a multitude of companies that are really pushing this technology for many different uses such as replacing the polygraph, using it to make life support withdrawal decisions, and even as a form of risk reduction for dating (Stix, 2008). This all sounds good in theory but the downside is that these companies are pushing fMRI technology for all these different uses without having a significant research performed to back up such hare-brained claims.
Plummeting the load of dishonesty has been the crucial goal of the cohort for ages to melt off the hassle of suspicion and increase the competency of human beings. The multitude of all ages has tried their best to wipe out deception and regain trust with the available technologies. Still the fundamental nature of humanity to deceive can’t be altered. Recently, fMRI imaging has come forth as a Protector of the mental capacity to assess deception and discriminate dishonesty from actuality. The future of the courtroom seems endangered with the over persuasiveness of this neuroscience data. How does fMRI work? Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI): is a technique that directly evaluates the blood flow to the brain, thereby providing information
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If applicable in the courtroom, these fMRI methods will completely revolutionize our legal system and law enforcement procedures. Imagine a world where swearing "to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth" is actually enforceable. This is why I would choose to speak to Stephen J. Morse, a professor at the
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Cognitive neuroscientists use several brain imaging methods that look at the structure or function of the brain to study cognition. Position emission tomography (PET), functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI), electroencephalograph (EEG), magnetoencephalography (MEG) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) are all commonly used techniques. Neuroscientists want to use these techniques to construct theoretical models that represent and explain brain organisation and function (Eysenck & Keane, 2015) in order to match patterns of brain activation with psychological processes. The spatial (identifying where certain activity happens) and temporal (when the activity happens) resolutions of these neuroimaging techniques have an important
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