Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Unfortunately, this study does little to address how these new findings could affect treatment. In fact, it specifically states that this research hasn’t led to any new ideas for treatment. Like the autistic, who suffers from too little white matter in the prefrontal cortex, pathological liars may not be able to have their condition resolved if the basis for their condition is a result of brain structure. (para. 3)

I advocate for you to choose to not proceed with the fMRI scan. The fMRI scan has not be proven to be accurate in distinguishing whether or not a person is spontaneous lying or telling a reversed lie, also there is a serious difference between a deception and telling a lie and, if you are a constant liar there will be a vast amount of white matter in your brain. There are too many limitations with today’s technology and there is too little information on how exactly fMRI scans prove your innocence in the crime. There is a hypothesis that inferrers that the brain strains to tell a lie and that blood flows to the sector of the brain that is doing the most work (Stix, 2008). This theory has not been proven as to date and there’s no information confirming the credibility of the

In the article brain on fiction, A very interesting article by Annie Murphy Paul appeared in the New York Times yesterday. It was titled “Your Brain on Fiction” and deals with how the written word affects our brains. In the article, she talks about several studies done with functional MRIs (fMRI). A functional MRI looks at brain activation by revealing changes in blood flow. If a certain area of the brain is stimulated, then that area will receive increased blood flow and this can be measured with a functional MRI. Such testing is currently being looked at to perhaps develop a more reliable lie detector. It appears that different parts of the brain activate when someone is remembering an event as opposed to making it up. Hopefully, this technique

Neuroscience evidence has impacted some cases in the history. In 1991, the structural neuroimaging evidence was presented in the criminal proceeding, Herbert Weinstein was being tried for second-degree murder, he was the primary suspect in his wife’s death. It was believed that during the heated argument, he strangled her and threw her body from the window of their apartment to make it look like a suicide (Rojas-Burke, 1993). His defense attorney claimed that Weinstein is not responsible for his actions due to a mental defect. Where a large cyst located in his membranous casing of his brain had increased the pressure on his frontal cortex, metabolic imbalances in the region that resulted to decreased his ability to tell right from wrong.

Mental Research Institute (MRI) theory assumes that problems rise for mishandling of normal difficulties in life and that attempting solutions to solve contribute to the problem. The processes of a MRI therapist will start with identify the problem and how it is a problem. When the client’s family was asked what is the problem? The problem was identified as “Mina does not want to go to college”. When the family was asked “how is this a problem?” their answer was It was Mina is diabetic and the parents wants him to get a job that provide him with stability and not hard physical work. The parents see the only way that Mina can achieving this goal is by going to college. On the other hand Mina does not want to go to college and refuse to talk about why or what are his future plans.

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.

So you’ve heard of fMRI studies. The thing that makes the brain light up with neat colors. But what is fMRI technology really? There are many misconceptions and misunderstandings in regards to fMRI technology and studies. The following are some things to keep in mind when scrutinizing those pesky fMRI studies.

“The brain adapts to dishonesty,” an article written by Garrett et al. and published in Nature Neuroscience, studies whether or not dishonesty increases with repetition when all other factors remain constant. The article included the analysis of a primary experiment as well as a follow-up. These experiments aimed to observe physiological and neurological signs associated with increases in dishonesty and emotion. In addition, they also utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify voxels within the brain (such as the amygdala) that have been previously associated with emotion to attempt to examine whether response to dishonesty in said region decreases over time and whether that level of decrease predicts the extend of escalation of dishonesty.

The basis of polygraphy or psychophysiological credibility assessment is a scientific theory that can be and has been tested with the methods of science. Any conscious effort

Ever since the early days of science fiction, man has dreamt of using computers to see into another’s mind, to see what they see, and what they think. Until recently, this hope was just that, a dream. But now, using magnetic resonance imaging, statistical analysis programs, and a new encoding model, scientists have turned this dream into a reality. MRIs use strong magnetic fields to trigger and measure a charge in the tissue scanned, which is then translated to an image of the scanned area. Functional MRIs expand on this technique by using the change in charge in specific parts of the brain to measure the oxygenation of blood in these areas over time. Using this technique, known as blood oxygenation level-dependent contrast (BOLD), changes in

Magnetic resonance imaging has the potential of totally replacing computed tomography. If history was rewritten, and CT invented after MRI, nobody would bother to pursue CT. --Philip Drew (Mattson and Simon, 1996)

The introduction of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the field of cognitive neuroscience had a profound impact on the ability of researchers to localize and record cognitive activity in the human brain. Created by a group led by Ramon Damadian in 1976, this cranial imaging technology finally bridged the gap between the cognitive outputs of behavior and the inner regions of the brain with profound accuracy (Clark, 2007). Surprisingly, the implications for MRI scans are perhaps most significant in the field of lie detection. As stated by Melissa Littlefield in one of her publications on the subject, MRI technology represents a “quantum leap” for deception researchers (Littlefield, 2011). This is primarily due to the fact that governments, law enforcement,

The polygraph, also known as the lie-detector, is used today by the federal government, law enforcement, and judges to help determine a person’s role in a crime and whether or not they are guilty. Due to its appearance in the Hollywood and entertainment industry, there is a false image. Contrary to popular belief, the results cannot be an accurate representation of a suspect’s innocence. The polygraph is pseudoscience at best and yet it could ruin an innocent person’s reputation. Leonard Saxe, a psychologist at Brandeis University, says that “There's no unique physiological sign of deception. And there's no evidence whatsoever that the things the polygraph measures — heart rate, blood pressure, sweating, and breathing — are linked to whether you're telling the truth or not” (Stromberg). Anyone could trigger the polygraph, guilty or not. Saxe also says “all these physiological measures are simply associated with fear and anxiety, and people are anxious sometimes when they're telling the truth, and they can be not anxious sometimes when they're lying. The more practiced you are at lying, the less anxiety is associated with it” (Stromberg). All the signs and conditions that the machine detects have no scientific evidence to support them. The results are so unreliable, a plant was hooked up to a polygraph and it failed the test (Eells). The fact that a non-human subject failed the polygraph

Cognitive load reflects “The total amount of mental activity imposed on working memory in any one instant” (Malamed, 2015). Liars often experience cognitive overload because they must remember what they said or did not say, their nonverbal displays, and their verbal cues. Additionally, liars must monitor the lie target’s nonverbal displays and verbal cues to ensure the lie is believed. Too much information processed by the brain at one time leads to cognitive overload. In a study conducted at the University of Leipzig (Germany), researchers found that, “Touching changed electrical potentials in the brain, namely those having to do with storing information in working memory and emotional condition” (Jimenez, 2014). That discovery concluded

Many flaws have been discovered in the use of polygraphs and other similar devices. The most common type of lie detector relies too strongly on the idea that lying is stressful. These machines seek to identify the subject’s stress/anxiety level without taking into consideration outside factors that may contribute to the stress or anxiety. In some cases there are individuals who are pathological liars and are very comfortable with communicating false information. There is also the possibility that some people may be lying, but are genuinely convinced they are telling the truth. According to Fiedler and Walka the everyday lie detectors lack the necessary knowledge to use nonverbal cues that discriminate lies from truthful communications. Theses devices instead rely on general heuristics such as the infrequency of reported events or