Brain Waves is reporting that two companies are now advertising brain-based lie detection services based on fMRI brain-scanning technology.
This technology works differently from traditional polygraph-based techniques which measure arousal in the body and are based on the idea that we become more stressed (and hence, more aroused) when telling lies.
Polygraphs are notoriously unreliable and are known to be easily fooled.
In contrast, newer ‘lie detection’ technology typically uses an approach called the Guilty Knowledge Test (pdf) which relies on recognition.
It is known that there are distinct patterns of brain activation when someone recognises a previously seen piece of information, compared to when they do not.
In the Guilty Knowledge Test, a suspected murderer might be shown items from the crime scene to see whether these particular patterns of activation are found. If a recognition pattern is found, this might suggest that they were present at the scene.
The potential use of this technology has raised some serious ethical concerns, however, (see this pdf on neuroprivacy) as it has been touted for use on people without their consent, such as in cases of terrorism or goverment intelligence gathering, and it is still not known exactly how accurate or how easily fooled such tests are.
UPDATE: I’ve just discovered Brain Ethics also has an engaging post on this topic.
Link to Brain Waves on fMRI ‘lie detection’ services.
pdf of paper on Guilty Knowledge Test.
pdf of paper on ‘neuroprivacy’.
According to a news report from NBC, it seems the Pentagon are still stuck way back in 1973, when the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from its list of mental disorders:
WASHINGTON – A Pentagon document classifies homosexuality as a mental disorder, decades after mental health experts abandoned that position.
The document outlines retirement or other discharge policies for service members with physical disabilities, and in a section on defects lists homosexuality alongside mental retardation and personality disorders.
Link to article ‘Pentagon memo: Homosexuality a disorder’ (via BB).
The Telegraph has an article on an upcoming exhibition at London’s Tate Modern gallery that shows how Kandinsky used his synaesthesia to create the world’s first truly abstract paintings.
Kandinsky discovered his synaesthesia at a performance of Wagner’s opera Lohengrin in Moscow: “I saw all my colours in spirit, before my eyes. Wild, almost crazy lines were sketched in front of me.” In 1911, after studying and settling in Germany, he was similarly moved by a Schoenberg concert and finished painting Impression III (Konzert) two days later. The abstract artist and the atonal composer became friends, and Kandinsky even exhibited Schoenberg’s paintings in the first Blue Rider exhibition in Munich in the same year.
The exhibition will run from June 22nd to October 1st and has a number of accompanying educational events.
Link to article ‘The man who heard his paintbox hiss’ (via 3Quarks).
Link to details of exhibition from Tate Modern.
It’s that time again when a new edition of Scientific American Mind has hit the shelves with the customary freely available feature articles available online.
One of the online articles examines the recent trend for mental workout computer games deliberately designed to keep the grey cells ticking over and the mind sharp.
It particularly examines the science behind the Nintendo game Brain Age and whether there is actually hard evidence that these sort of games help maintain mental function into old age.
The other freely available article reminds me of a discussion sparked by a previous Mind Hacks post about whether there are taste or smell illusions, analogous to visual illusions.
Some of the comments on this post were fascinating and one contributor mentioned the properties of miraculin, a glycoprotein from the Miracle Fruit that fools the tongue into tasting sour things as sweet.
The SciAmMind article looks at ongoing research on how food company scientists are developing chemicals to change the taste perception of bitter compounds. It seems it needs an understanding of both the genetic effects of taste perception and the chemical interactions of our sense organs.
The full issue also contains articles on the psychology of burnout, the latest on neuronal communication, savant abilities, controlling epilepsy, getting new generations of drugs into the brain and one reporter’s experience of dating Hiroshi Ishiguro’s life-like female android.
Link to contents of new Scientific American Mind.
Link to article ‘Circuit Training’.
Link to article ‘Bitter Could Taste Better’.
Having ‘uncontrollable’ angry outbursts meets the criteria for “intermittent explosive disorder” – a diagnosable mental illness. According to a recent study, 7.3% of Americans could be diagnosable within their lifetime – that’s 1 in 14 people.
The diagnosis just seems to describe people who have occasional and extreme angry outbursts that are out of proportion to the stresses they experience.
No wonder diagnostic manuals get a bad name when behaviour within the normal spectrum (even if it is only displayed by a minority of people) is pathologised as a ‘mental illness’.
I suspect this reflects an increasing attitude than unless something is defined as a ‘mental illness’ people can’t be offered help for their problem, or perhaps, won’t be willing to seek assistance.
Link to write-up from New Scientist.
Link to abstract of scientific study.
New Scientist has put an article online about drug-tampering – the practice of messing with prescription medication so it can be used to get a high or gives a stronger effect.
Stimulant drugs such as Ritalin are being crushed and snorted, and users on internet sites discuss how to take other drugs in similarly non-standard ways.
New Scientist suggests that this is a ‘growing health hazard’ but prescription drug-tampering is as old as prescription medication itself.
In fact, prescriptions were introduced in many countries to try and control the problem of medicines being used recreationally.
Benzedrine is the classic example. The nasal decongestant was widely abused as its main active ingredient was amphetamine.
It was so widely abused to become part of culture and featured in songs and literature as a result. Even clean-cut James Bond pops the occasional Benzedrine to keep him sharp in the original Ian Fleming novels.
The Addiction Research Unit at Buffalo University have collected many more examples of now prohibited drugs which were widely available over the counter, and similarly abused for their recreational kick.
Link to New Scientist article.
Link to Buffalo University online pre-prohibition drugs museum.
Delivery driver Gary Harris was suffering vomiting and headaches but was told he would have to wait 11 weeks for an NHS brain scan, so his workmates had a whip-round and collected enough money for a private scan – which saved his life.
The scan found a large tumour, and doctors say his life would have been in danger had it not been detected and removed.
Link to story from BBC News.
Petra also tells me that there’s a competition to promote participation in the free discussion forum for psychology and social science research.
£100 worth of books will be awarded to the most active and helpful member of this site between 5th of May and the 7th of July.
The forum is for anyone undertaking psychology or social science research to discuss their work and exchange ideas, with input from professional researchers and Petra herself.
Link to competition details.
Link to message board front page.
The London-based Dana Centre will be hosting a number of events on the science of sex over the coming month for those interested in gender, reproduction and passion.
Tuesday 6th of June sees a debate asking can pharmaceuticals improve your love life? and considers the increasing targetting of sexual behaviour by drug companies.
On the following day, there’s a discussion about the problems with defining gender and how gender is influenced by social and biological development.
And on Wednesday 14th June the Dana Centre tackles myths and misconceptions about sex and sexual behaviour in a panel discussion.
Psychologist, sex researcher and blogger Petra Boyton will be part of the discussion for the two debates on sex, and will be joined by professionals from the pharmaceutical industry and medical world.
Photos from yesterday’s Bonkersfest! have started to appear online.
It was a beautifully sunny, wonderfully anarchic day in Camberwell.
Congratulations to all involved and I’ll look forward to the next one.
The excellent ABC Radio National All in the Mind has a special this week on the social impact of psychiatric drugs.
During the 20th century, there was a revolution in the development of mind-altering drugs to the point where useful and viable medicines for mental distress became available.
The widespread prescription of such drugs meant that they became used for more than serious mental illness – they often became self-administered fixes for the stresses and strains of daily life.
All in the Mind discusses the history of the these drugs and how they have affected our ideas of cultural and personal distress.
The Anxiety, Addiction and Depression Treatments blog has a thoughtful piece on the increasing trend for people with serious mental health concerns being chosen as participants in reality television shows.
Recently, several mental health charities have criticised the UK Big Brother after a contestant threatened to kill themselves on air, and left the show shortly after.
Participants with mental health difficulties have also featured on mainstream US shows, and the article argues that producers are more concerned with having dramatic ‘characters’ in their show than they are about the mental health of participants.
The article is an incisive analysis of mental illness on reality TV at a time when such concerns have become widely debated.
Link to article ‘Reality Corrupted’.
Christian’s too modest to mention them, but I notice a new batch of posts on the BPS Research Digest has just appeared.
I was particularly interested to see the post on recent research that has looked at how coma is represented in Hollywood movies – seemingly as a semi-angelic form of restful unconsciousness from which people awake as if they’d never been gone.
The Wall Street Journal has recently published an article on heroin addicition by the pseudonymous Theodore Dalrymple, who argues that heroin is not as life-gripping as it is claimed, and that many addicts simply lack the will to stop using the drug.
Theodore Dalrymple is the pen name of retired psychiatrist Anthony Daniels who has long opposed liberal approaches to mental illness and its treatment.
Conservative writers tend to dismiss mental illness off-hand as some sort of moral failing without ever engaging the topic, while Daniels is one of the few who actually gives the issue some consideration.
Even if you don’t agree with his views, Daniels is a thought-provoking writer who tackles a difficult area that others often ignore.
Link to ‘Poppycock’ by Theodore Dalrymple.
Camberwell Green in London will be home to Bonkersfest! on Saturday 3rd June as mental health agitators and arts collective Creative Routes host a festival that embraces every aspect of the human mind.
The festival will be kicked off by the Mayor of Southwark and the Southwark Town Crier by the firing of a banana laden cannon, while DJs, bands, artists, performers and dancers will entertain the crowds.
Also included in the line-up is a Big Top, caberet café, cinema, talking lamposts and whispering trees, all in the spirit of bringing madness to the masses.
Camberwell is a significant location because it is home to the Maudsley Hospital, the spiritual home of British psychiatry and one of the world’s leading centres for psychiatric training and research. It is also within the same NHS Trust as the Bethlem Royal Hospital – the world’s oldest psychiatric hospital, founded in 1247.
The festival aims to promote an alternative to the psychiatric view, suggesting that unusual experiences and distressing emotions are part of life’s rich tapestry rather than signs of disease or illness.
Creative Routes is run by people who have experience of the mental health system and has promoted healthier happier lives through successful and innovative arts projects and collaborations. Bonkersfest! will be one of their biggest events to date.
See you there!
Link to Bonkersfest! website.
Mind Hacks 
