Not ready yet

I listened to the series that has been running on NPR the last few days about the use of fMRIs  and PET scans for brain imaging.  Many neuro-scientists have been studying the brains of various kinds of people and watching how their brains react in different situations.  They would like to see if they can determine if different kinds of behaviors cam be predicted by different brain patterns. I have read about, and read some of the stuff of the two neurologists who were discussed on the show, Kent Kehl and Jim Fallon.

In the last report they discussed the case of a man in Tennessee who sliced up a neighbor into little pieces, and then went after his wife with a machete.  In court, testifying for the defense, the neurologists showed that the man had a brain pattern and genetic pattern that is often associated with serial killers.  He was physiologically pre-disposed to be more violent and explosive.  This tendency was made manifest by the abuse he endured as a child.

Therefore, they argued, and the jury seemed to agree, this man was up against too many factors, and that he was much more destined than most people to lose control. 

This is fascinating stuff, which is why I have read about it.  Sometimes I feel that I would like to have a brain imaging machine in my office so I could tell the areas of the brain that were activated whn my clients were expressing certain emotions, or recalling specific events, such as today when a woman I have been seeing became enraged because the man who had abused her as a kid has appeared on a friend's page on Facebook.

But I think the use of brain images at this time can be very misleading, possibly very inaccurate and can be a very dangerous direction to go in.  I don't think we are close to having demonstrated that we can think that pictures of our brains can mean more than self-reports or actual behaviors. 

Yes, perhaps this man had more of a predisposition to lose control and he was "out of his mind" at the time he was slicing his neighbor into chunks.  But, a case could be easily made that anyone who slices his neighbor into chunks is "out of his mind." Is this man more a victim of his genes and the other person just "bad?"

The slippery slope factor here is that, because of the current fascination and belief in new technologies, there is a tendency to believe the machine more than the person.  So, if the brain scan shows a pattern that says you are depressed, then you are depressed, even if you don't feel that way.  Or the opposite could be true, that you feel very anxious and panicked, but your brain pattern does not fit that of a panicked person so your insurance will deny payment for treatment. (I realize that that is not about to happen because the price of the scan is about the same as a year or so of treatment.) but the point is that I hope we don't get sucked into the use of great a technology long before it is ready, and it may never be ready for that exacting a purpose.

However, we already have doctors who can look at a brain scan, and then begin hawking their pills, brain exercises, or electronic brain-wave massaging machines that will cure your depression, ADD, or help with your math SAT scores.

Sometimes they get good, measurable results. But in my skeptical mind I would file those results in the placebo file.

I hope you all enjoy feeling free this weekend, if you are in the USA or not.  Real freedom, the freedom to think and do what you wish, not just the freedom to let corporations make a lot of money.