New Article on fMRI and Brain Fingerprinting (Goldberg)

Interesting new article out from Melissa Littlefield in Science, Technology, and Human Values, which is generally an STS journal.  (For the uninitiated, STS = science & technology studies, and is a subdiscipline that shades to the interdisciplinary but has its roots, IMO, firmly planted in sociology).  The article is entitled Constructing the Organ of Deceit: The Rhetoric of fMRI and Brain Fingerprinting in Post-9/11 America.  Here is the Abstract:

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and the electroencephalography (EEG)-based technology of Brain Fingerprinting have been hailed as the next, best technologies for lie detection in America, particularly in the context of post-9/11 anxiety. In scientific journals and the popular press, each has been juxtaposed and deemed superior to traditional polygraphy, which measures changes in the autonomic nervous system and correlates these fluctuations with emotions such as anxiety, fear, and guilt. The author contends that the juxtaposition of polygraphy and brain-based detection is a rhetorical strategy that foregrounds the corrective advantage of brain-based techniques, creates an artificial rupture between contiguous technologies, and ignores the shared assumptions foundational to fMRI, EEG, and two older ``truth telling'' technologies: polygraphy and fingerprinting. Far from describing the brain and its functions, fMRI and Brain Fingerprinting produce models of the brain that reinforce social notions of deception, truth, and deviance.

Sounds promising.  For another STS take on imaging techniques, check out Kelly Joyce's recent book, entitled Magnetic Appeal: MRI and the Myth of Transparency.  FYI, the power of the visible in conceptualizing the body, the brain, health, and illness remains central to my work, and is at the core of my interest in neuroethics in general.  Thinking about what is at stake socially and culturally in visualizing the brain ought to be, IMO, an area of emphasis for those interested in neuroethics. Though, of course, Hank Greely is right to note that law and neuroscience is more than just fMRI, thinking deeply about the power of visible images of the brain and the inner body is critical to the discourse, IMO. 

Comments

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