Neorscientist can watch us making decisions

Recently it was reported that neuroscience researchers have begun to be able to watch the decision making process at work in our brain.

Led by Professor Irene Tracey, an Oxford University team believe that within 10 years they will be able to do brain scans that test individual pain experience and this could be used to spot benefit cheats or fraudulent person’s injury claims.

This raised many questions in my mind, (or even in my neurons!). Is this right to use a tool which was built for the medical purpose of detecting something abnormal within the brain for a completely different purpose?  Can we really reduce our decisions to chemical reactions? Where does free will, or even choice fit into all this. Just because my brain pattern says that I am inclined to do a certain thing does not necessarily mean that I will chose to act upon it. I was glad to read that the Royal Society said that any question of using brain test results as evidence in court should be approached with "great caution”.

There are extraordinary consequences to a conclusion based on science that humans are merely made up of chemicals and our life decisions are determined by how those chemicals react in certain circumstances. This gives no room for the upbringing and morals instilled in us from our family, from our teachings and from our surroundings. Where too does the idea of sacrificial love or the challenge of forgiveness fit into this world view.

Professor Tracey is trying to help others heal. She should be applauded for that work in the service of others. But I do not thing her work should be used at the same time to undermine our very understanding of what it is to be fully human, with no room for our freedom of choice or the inner journey that is the bedrock of a contented life with or without faith.

Neuroimaging as evidence?

Can technology be so advanced that our thoughts can be seen by other people? Apparently , brain scans using neuromagnetic resonance imaging can explicitly project unto a computer screen an individual’s thought patterns. The Scottish Universities Insight Institute has recently presented a report on the current applications of neuroimaging in a variety of fields. The Church of Scotland, through the Society, Religion and Technology Project, has been involved in the development of this report .


The fact that other people can see our thought patterns raises a number of questions; who will have access to the data from people’s brain scans? How will that data be interpreted? How will the interpretations of brain activities be used? The difficulty is that although this technology was developed for use in a clinical context it is now being used as evidence in criminal trials, although the technology has not yet been properly tested and tried in non-medical contexts. It is not unusual to have technologies applied outside the context for which they were originally developed, take the computer; it was intended to be used as a gigantic calculator. The difference here is that the application of neuroimaging as evidence in criminal cases has been introduced without proper legislative frameworks. There is a real danger that vulnerable groups could become victims to the misuse of brain imaging. Other areas of potential misuse are for insurance applications and pre-employment interviews.

This is why I wrote to MSPs urging them to support the motion proposed by Helen Eadie, MSP for a parliamentary debate on the legislative framework for the use of brain imaging.



Let us hope we can have a proper debate which incorporates not just scientists and lawyers, but ordinary folk as well.