Watching Your Emotions? A study conducted in the early 2000’s is changing the field of psychology in significant ways. Research is revealing new and highly technical methods of peering into the human brain. A noninvasive method that sees what is happening in the brain and how the brain functions. This includes emotions, thoughts, experiences, and more. Not mind reading, but its capabilities are by what psychologists and neuroscientists say are astounding. A traditional magnetic resonance image (MRI) that has been used since the 1970’s can clearly show soft tissue abnormalities.
Similarly, this new discovery using the MRI may be employed for uses beyond medicine. An article by Philip Ross (2003) suggests that the “functional MRI”, known as the fMRI, can detect brain structures involved in human thinking, emotions, motivations and behaviors. The study, examined by Ross, tests the potential of the MRI to determine if a
person is telling the truth, a high-tech lie detector. The fMRI essentially reveals which parts of the brain are “functioning” at any given time during a scan. In this way the MRI not only can be used as a diagnostic tool, but it can also detect brain functioning.
How Does It Work? Brain functions are seen when the MRI detects changes in the amount of oxygen in the blood flow around active areas as well as glucose utilization. Researchers can see which parts of the brain are activated during a given task, essentially lighting up those areas of the brain.
When a person is telling the truth one part of the brain will light up, the part of the brain holding that truth. Although when a person is telling a lie two parts light up, the part that is creating the lie and the part holding the truth that the lie is covering up. Indicating that a lie cannot exist unless the brain is also hiding a truth
in another area (Langleben 2002). Both lying and truth telling were observed in a study using playing cards contained in envelopes. Participants either told the truth or lied about the cards in their envelope. Findings from this fMRI study were clear: Participants who told the truth utilized only one brain region (anterior cingulate gyrus), those who were lying had two regions utilized (anterior cingulate gyrus and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex).
Other Views Other studies of the fMRI identified psychological disorders, loss of clear and rational thinking, activity related to autism, and the inability or difficulty in relating appropriately to others. These findings may ethically challenge the idea of using the fMRI as a legal tool within a court of law to peer into someone’s mind, but it may be the key to study, diagnose, treat, and cure brain-related disorders far more effectively than ever before, and perhaps even recording human thoughts. fMRI technology, though good in theory, can also be used for evil purposes depending on the ethics and values of those who control it.