Promises are made to be broken, so it can be tough to tell which ones will be kept. But new-found patterns in brain activity can reveal whether someone intends to keep their word.
The finding raises the possibility of using brain scans to determine the true intentions of criminals who are up for early release on parole, according to Thomas Baumgartner of the University of Zurich in Switzerland.
He and his colleagues used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to catch promise-breakers in the act.
New Scientist (thanks, Eliza)
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The finding raises the possibility of using brain scans to determine the true intentions of criminals who are up for early release on parole – I have to say that criminals as a general rule of thumb work on opportunism. Presented with a set of circumstances they will decide there and then if its worth the risk. I can see this system falling totally flat on its face. Because like a lie detector – if they believe they are telling the truth – the machine says they are.
the finding raises the possibility of using brain scans to determine who yer gonna hire or insure. whether they are accurate or not, i might add. :/
The whole idea relies on there being a single “The” brain with a single design so that everyone “should” have the same stuff in the same places. That’s a dangerous assumption – there’s no creator and therefore no reason to posit a single design of brain.
Not very trustworthy I\\\’d say .. run it twice ? Type of volunteers and such? Bond (or not) with researchers.
Game aspect. If a lie detector is in the back of their heads, then they can stop already by now. If there is no aim in this research other than curiousity … who funds it? Waitinglists for this type of scanner patientwise is then a bit … disgusting.
it sounds so black and white to me!!! so right now i make a promise and i have all the best intention in the world of owning up to it and then saddly other factors may come to play and tomorrow i find i cannot keep up with the promise anymore, maybe too much may be at risk if i do? (just an example) so what does that make me??? a liar??? an untrustworthy person or just someone who needs to re-adjust when new factors come at play??? you lose some you win some. can’t be perfect, or else can’t behave as a robot!!! to me control is the secret here…we will never stop until we find the way to control absolutely everything related to humans!!!! thanks God this in itself is impossible….hopefully…