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----------------------------- - 1835 - Can MRI’s be lie detectors?
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- Yes, MRI’s can be used as lie detectors. To learn the physics of how the MRI works see Review # 820. It is a brain scan or a body scan that looks inside the body at bones and tissues. Magnetic Resonance Imaging is a very common technology that most hospitals are using. The machine costs $3 million so the use is not widespread.
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- I developed knee and back problems that persisted for years. Finally, my doctor sent me for X-rays. The X-rays are digital these days, no film to develop. The doctor sets down with you immediately afterwards. He said my knees were bone on bone on the inside edge. The cartilage was “V” shaped, bulging out the outside edge the knee. But, he said the real pain may be from your lower back. He sent me to get an MRI.
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- This was terrifying. A few weeks ago they put me in a hospital gown and slid me into a narrow MRI tube with barely 3 inches clearance around my head. I have developed coffin claustrophobia . I kept my eyes closed the entire time. The machine made noises as the beam circled my body and ratcheted down my back. The beeps and dings persisted for 25 minutes. The doctor gave me a panic button, but, no way would I push it. I will not go through this twice. But, he turned me around and put me back through the tube for another 25 minutes. That 50 minutes took 5 years off my life!
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- With that experience I will never tell a lie. Why? Because MRI’s will soon be used as lie detectors.
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- The premise being that lying requires more cognitive effort and , therefore, more oxygenated blood flows in particular parts of the brain. The MRI brain scan shows the flow of oxygenated blood. The brain needs oxygen for mental activity. So, the rise of oxygenated blood in one part of the brain indicates cognitive activity there.
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- Blood has different magnetic properties when it is oxygenated. That is how the MRI can detect it. During the brain scan the patient wears a copper head band coil in order to enhance the magnetic field around the skull. No other metal can be on the body because it could invalidate the results.
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- If the MRI lie detector really works it may create a cottage industry of metal implants for criminals to avoid such scanning’s.
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- Human beings by themselves are terrible lie detectors. We are easily duped. By definition, the most convincing lies go undetected. People routinely lie about sex, power, and money. Therefore, an MRI lie detector would be useful in risk reduction while dating, in trust issues in inter personal relationships, in issues concerning money.
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- The federal government performs tens of thousands of polygraph tests a year. Polygraph advocates cite accuracy estimates of 90%. That sounds impressive but think of people’s lives ruined by a medicine they take that fails one out of ten times. So the question becomes can an MRI brain scan be more accurate that today’s polygraphs? Can it be used as evidence as solid as DNA evidence?
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- DNA evidence has freed more that 100 wrongly accused people since the 1980’s. What about the federal government wanting evidence inside your encrypted smart phone? Would that act free anybody? Or, throw them in jail?
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- One of the reasons for success with polygraphs is the intimidation. Criminals believe they are in the presence of an infallible machine. and they simply confess. There is a case where the police used a Xerox copying machine. The interrogated was asked to put his had on the glass. The photocopy emerged with the suspects hand print and the word “LIE” written across it. The suspect confessed.
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- Lie detectors have a long history. The 1730 criminologist used the suspect’s pulse rate. In the late 1800’s suspects were to hold their hand in at tank of water. The subject’s pulse would cause the level of water to rise and fall slightly. The greater the fluctuations the more dishonest the subject was judged to be.
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- In 1917 systolic blood pressure was monitored to detect deception. It was seen as a better alternative than the brutal interrogations then known as the 3rd degree.
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- In 1923 polygraph tests were judged too risky to be used in the courtroom. However, half the states allow the tests on the understanding that charges will be dropped before trial if he passes and the results could be introduced as evidence if he fails.
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- Physiognomy in the 1800’s held that a person’s character was manifest in this facial features.
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- Phrenology held that the truth could be determined in the bumps on one’s skull.
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- More recently “brain fingerprinting” used EEG sensors to detect the brains electrical signals when processing memory. Analysis later learned that it was impossible to distinguish between brain signals produced by actual memory and those produced by an imagined alibi.
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- Then after 9-11-2001 there was the thermal imaging used to detect terrorists based on the area around the eyes heating up when people lie. However, increased blood flow that raises the temperature around the eyes is just another mark of stress.
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- The whole premise of these detection schemes assumes that telling a falsehood creates a conflict within the liar. The liar feels guilty or anxious and these feelings produce a measurable physiological response. The MRI assumption is that the conflict is cognitive, the liar’s brain has to work a little harder to make up a story. But, are these assumptions true for the sociopath who feels no conflict when lying. Or, maybe the autistic that may me tested? Or, maybe a politician?
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- However, in today’s world there is an understandable hunger for effective ways to expose evil doers. “Brain scans indicate” become a powerful phrase in our desire for security and certainty. We desperately want to believe that the objective measure of truth and deception will help protect the innocent and convict the guilty. Well, will it really? Where the reverse side of the truth has a hundred thousands shades and no defined limits.
What will the government think of next?
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- God only knows.
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- Request these Reviews to learn more:
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- #820 - Extreme magnetism.
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----- 707-536-3272 ---------------- Wednesday, February 24, 2016 -----
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