Brain scan reveals who will keep their promises

When I was young, I hoped and prayed that one day I would be able to read people’s mind. I wanted to be able to tell if someone was telling me the truth or simply pulling my chain. That day might be just around the corner. Newly found patterns in brain activity using an fMRI could reveal whether or not a person plans to keep their promises or not. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is a specialized type of MRI scan which measures the change in blood flow related to neural activity in the nervous system, but specifically in the brain.

Thomas Baumgartner, University of Zurich in Switzerland, and is team of researchers set up a situation in which the observed the trust relationship between an investor and a trustee. The investor was given real money to invest in a trustee. By giving the money to a trustee, the amount increased fivefold. However, the risk involved was that the trustee might keep all the winnings to himself and not share the winnings with the investor. All the trustees talked to their investor while they were inside the scanner. By doing this, the fMRI would be able to pick up immediate responses of brain activity at the moment of establishing the deal.

Data from the scans revealed increased activity when the trustees were breaking the promise. More activity was seen in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulated cortex, and amygdala – all of which are regions related to emotion. According to Baumgartner, this could reveal an emotional conflict in a person who knows they are doing something wrong or feels guilty. In addition, similar activity was seen in individuals who ending up breaking their promises later on. However, trustees that kept their promises did not have increased activity in these areas.

Baumgartner suggests this find could help determine the true intentions of criminals who are up for early release on parole. He hopes that brain scanning will give psychiatrists a better educated decision on whether criminals will reoffend. I do think that more investigation is needed in this area of neurobiology. Not only will understanding this type activity help in areas of criminal pursuits, but also in several other areas of psychological distress.

When I read this article, I immediately thought of the movie starring Tom Cruise, Minority Report. The movie is based on the idea that crimes can be predicted and stopped before they actually occur. Individuals who are predicted to commit a crime are considered to be criminals although they have not actually done anything wrong.

Although the suggested brain scans do show increased neural activity, it does not distinguish between thinking about lying and actually lying. Brain scanning can definitely be helpful and should be taken into consideration. But it should not be the only reason for basing a decision. The complexity of humans gives us the ability to have free will. While taking advantage of a situation for personal gain might be appealing, we still have the capability of deciding for ourselves. We are not destined to have our destiny predicted.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18266-brain-scan-reveals-who-will-keep-their-promises.html