Could brain scanning technology signal the end of telling sweet little lies, or is it just sci-fi...

Published for portfolio only - from the original

Story by: Wenee Yap
December 7, 2007.

You've lied. Don't deny it. To win a job, to pass an exam, to impress your former classmates with your (fictional) Medicins Sans Frontiers fiance at a high school reunion, to fend off telemarketers or charity collectors - whatever your reason, you have at some time in your life bent the truth for the sake of your personal convenience or advantage. For some, your conscience gnaws at you like Poe's telltale heart; others live for the thrill of deceit. What if a brain scan - using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) - could strip away your last bastion of privacy, perhaps even your social right to lie, and expose in detail what you're really thinking?

With many years of experience as a medical radiation scientist working in MRI imaging, UTS:LAW lecturer Leanne Houston (pictured above) is well-poised to plunge into the complex and controversial issues behind fMRI brain scanning and its implications for both the law and in society.

"Many questions arise: Is it an exact science? Who is interpreting these images? What do they really mean?" asked Houston. In the wake of fMRIs' stellar rise in the United States , with the debate raging over its accuracy and use in courts to its commercial application for corporate brand-makers, the technology has suffered as much criticism as success. Critics call it a "risky science" or a "junk science" whereas private organisations such as No Lie MRI have recommended its use in areas such as "risk reduction in dating," to more run-of-the-mill cases of finding out whether your partner or spouse is cheating.

Houston prefers to focus on fMRI's more altruistic applications. "Imagine if you could see if someone was lying - how brilliant for the law," said Houston. Even O.J. Simpson's attorney, Robert Shapiro has endorsed fMRI, saying he would "use it tomorrow in virtually every criminal and civil case on my desk."

"Though he wasn't able to use it on O.J", observed Houston with a smile.

The science behind fMRI in layman's terms, is essentially, your brain is made up of magnetic particles and a lot of water, explained Houston. An MRI is a giant magnetic field. "When you're put in a giant magnetic field and a radiofrequency is applied and then stopped, your hydrogen (in water) molecules flip; it's when they go back to their normal state that they release some energy. If you're using say, the frontal lobe of your brain to think about something there is neural activity in that area - more oxygen is used, therefore more bloodflow detected."

As a study participant, you are put into a scanner, "get asked a few questions, or you're asked to think about something - and the part of your brain which is evoking that sort of stimulation lights up."

With fMRI studies being used to examine areas as broad as a predictor of human behaviour, the brain and lying, to the brains of political swing voters in the upcoming US elections, to determining whether your young child is right or left brain dominant in order to nurture their creativity or logical/deductive side, the pressure for a concerted and conclusive study on the technology has resulted in a $10 million grant to the MacArthur Law and Neuroscience Project in the United States, looking at the viability of the science and its practical application in courts, and in the legal field.

"It hasn't started to take off here in Australia," said Houston, who is using her study leave next year to research into this area. She feels it's "only a matter of time" before the technology and its incumbent debate reaches our shores and will we be prepared for its uses? The privacy implications, she says, are mind-blowing. Marketers, insurance companies, employers as well as courts and law enforcement officers, could potentially have access to your true unadulterated thoughts.

"Perhaps in the not too distant future, police may request a warrant to search your brain. Of course, psychopaths are quite good at disguising their behaviour but can you hide what you're actually thinking?"