fMRI

MRI tests offer glimpse at brains behind the lies

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Richard Wiling of USA Today reported on Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI)-based lie detection in the 27 June edition in an article titled, “MRI tests offer glimpse at brains behind the lies:”

Two companies plan to market the first lie-detecting devices that use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and say the new tests can spot liars with 90% accuracy.

No Lie MRI plans to begin offering brain-based lie-detector tests in Philadelphia in late July or August, says Joel Huizenga, founder of the San Diego-based start-up. Cephos Corp. of Pepperell, Mass., will offer a similar service later this year using MRI machines at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, says its president, Steven Laken.

Both rely in part on recent research funded by the federal government aimed at producing a foolproof method of detecting deception.

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New lie detection technology too much like scientific mind reading, ethicist says

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Stanford News Service intern Emily Saarman reports on law professor and ethicist Henry T. “Hank” Greely‘s concerns about the marketing fMRI-based lie detection without adequate study and peer-review:

New lie detection technology too much like scientific mind reading, ethicist says

Companies plan to begin selling fMRI services by end of year, but, with no regulation, utility of technique need not be proved

BY EMILY SAARMAN

For many, the phrase “lie detection” probably brings to mind an image of a polygraph machine and an intimidating movie-style interrogation, possibly with a subject who could expertly “beat the polygraph.” But ethicist and law Professor Hank Greely said this image is about to change.

Recent advances in neuroscience promise to bring lie detection technology far beyond the notoriously unreliable polygraph and into a realm that Greely said bears eerie resemblance to scientific mind reading.

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“Search for Truth: New Technology for Catching Liars Could Put More People’s Honesty to the Test”

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Associated Press writer Christopher Newton reports. Excerpt: WASHINGTON (AP) — The world is becoming a trickier place for people who tell lies — even little white ones. From thermal-imaging cameras, designed to read guilty eyes, to brain-wave scanners, which essentially watch a lie in motion, the technology of truth-seeking is leaping forward. At the same … Read more

“Diogenes’ New Lamp”

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Rebecca Sloan Slotnick discusses recent detection of deception research involving functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and thermal imaging in this article published in the March-April 2002 issue of American Scientist. AntiPolygraph.org’s George Maschke was among those interviewed for this article.

“Medical Detection of False Witness”

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Brandon Spun reports in the 4 February 2002 issue of Insight magazine on experimental detection of deception/concealed information techniques. Spun specifically addresses Dr. Larry Farwell’s “brain fingerprinting” technique, Dr. Daniel Langleben’s fMRI research, and Dr. James Levine and collaborators’ thermal imaging technology.

“A Truth Machine: Can Brain-Scanning Technologies Stop Terrorists — Or Just Threaten Privacy?”

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Ronald Bailey reports for Reason magazine’s ReasonOnline website. Excerpt: “It’s happening much faster than I thought it would,” says James Halperin, author of the 1996 science fiction novel The Truth Machine. The novel describes how humanity would react to the invention of an infallible lie detector in the year 2024. “When I was talking about … Read more

“The Polygraph Test Meets Its Match: Researchers Find Brain Scans Can Be Powerful Tool in Detecting Lies”

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Washington Post correspondent Shankar Vedantam reports in this page A02 article. Excerpt: Telling a lie produces telltale changes in the brain, researchers announced yesterday at a neuroscience conference in San Diego. Brain scans of volunteers asked to tell lies showed changes as the subjects tried to suppress what they knew was true. The result might … Read more

“Brain’s One-Card Trick Yields Superior Lie Test”

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Mark Henderson, science correspondent for The Times of London, reports on the use of magnetic resonance scans to detect concealed knowledge. Excerpt: PATTERNS of brain activity that betray whether a person is lying have been identified, paving the way for brain scans in criminal investigations. Scientists in the United States have discovered that several parts … Read more