Sunday, April 19, 2009
Increasing Use of Brain Scans in India
India has become the first country to convict someone of a crime relying on evidence from a brain scanner. The scanner is able to produce images of the human mind in action and is said to reveal signs that a suspect remembers details of the crime in question. Since the September 11 attacks, the U.S. has spent money to produce more counterterrorism investigations by brain-based lie detection. This technology has not been accepted as evidence except in India, where judges have begun to admit brain scans. Electrodes are placed on the suspect's head to measure electrical waves while an investigator reads aloud details of the crime and the resulting brain images are then processed. When the crime's details are recited, the brain lights up in specific regions, showing measurable changes when experiences are relived. The inventors of the technology claim the system can distinguish between people’s memories of events they witnessed and between deeds they committed. The Brain Electrical Oscillations Signature test, or BEOS, was developed by Champadi Raman Mukundan, a neuroscientist who once ran the psychology department of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences in Bangalore. Maharashtra and Gujarat, two states in India, have been impressed enough to set up labs using BEOS for their prosecutors. If brain scans are widely adopted, they would cause legal issues, such as implicating the First, Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, Seventh and 14th Amendments in the U.S. Constitution. In the past, methods of eliciting truth have been problematic: truth drugs made suspects babble while polygraph tests measured anxiety and not deception.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 comments:
This article summary was extremely interesting as it seems completely new and fresh. It was well done because the summary was very thorough, it dealt with a technology that is clearly extremely new and novel, and it talked about the technology in a broad and global context. However, I would have liked to know just how effective the brain scanner would be, and how likely they would be to be implemented in the future (despite the fact that they demolish certain privacy rights). That being said, I really enjoyed this article because it was something I was completely unaware of, and it was extremely educational to read.
I was fascinated to read about the new technology, the brain scanner. I hadn't any previous knowlegde of such technology so to read about it was interesting and the summary was nicely written. I would have liked to know if the techonolgy has been or will be tested and whether or not it was or how they know for sure that it will be successful.
This article was very interesting and well put-together. It was interesting to learn about the new technology being used. I had never heard of the brain scanner and it is fascinating that there is such a thing. It was very well written. For change, if there could be more evidence of the previous or future use of the technology, that would make it better, but overall, it was a great job.
Geena, I really enjoyed reading your article. Not only was the article well written and put together, but also it was very interesting. I find it truly fascinating how engineers have been able to take such a basic invention like a polygraph, and redesign it into something that can actually monitor one's brain waves. Totally cool!! I also enjoyed how much detail you put into your article because it allowed me to understand the full story surrounding this new invention. Moreover, I do not think there is really anything that you can seriously improve regarding this article. I believe that you successfully met all criteria and that you did a really great job overall!
This article was very interesting, and well done. Geena did a good job of explaining the detail of this new technology that involves using a brain scanner to determine whether or not a suspect is lying. Another thing that I thought was well presented was the way she mentioned the application of this technology to forensic science. The article thoroughly explains how the scanner can be used to aid in the investigation, but also suggests limits that might exist due to certain rights guaranteed to US Citizens in the Constitution. Lastly, I liked the way the article was written, and organized. Some things that I might suggest to be improved, would be adding a timeline for the implementation of this scanner, and if it is realistic to be widely used in crime investigations. Overall this was a great review.
The article was interesting. It was nice to read something that hadn’t been posted before. Geena did a great job writing the summary.
This summary was very well written. I find it itneresting that technology is so advanced, it can see images that your brain has stored. It is especially useful in forensics. I also liked how she explained the scienc ebehind the method, as well as it's legitmacy. I also really like it how she tied her topics into other areas, such as the amendments, as well as previous "truth issues". If i were to change, anything, it owuld be to have more examples becuase this is a relaly interesting development in the forensic sciences.
This was a great article summary about some new technology that i havent heard of yet. It is always nice to learn about some new information. It would have been more effective if how the brain scanner would be if implemented but otherwise it was a really well written article
This article was very fascinating especially since it was a topic that has never been discussed before. Geena did a very nice job explaining the article and giving reasons on why she likes it. Even so, she should have explained more about how effective the brain scanner would have been. Otherwise, it was very nicely done.
Nicely done, Geena. I like the way you went into details about the article. I never knew that you can convice someone of a crime by using a brain scanner. Interesting.
Again, nicely done, Geena!
Post a Comment