Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
Brain Fingerprinting
Dept. of E&C
G.P.T.C Perumbavoor
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2011
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Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. About 1.2. Defi ition 2. TECHNIQUE 3. ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY 3.1. About 3.2. Sources of EEG Activities 3.3. EEG Vs MRI & PET 3.4. Method 4. P300 5. ROLE OF BRAIN-FINGERPRINTING IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDING 5.1. Ph se 1:Inveti tion 5.2. Ph se 2:Interview of the Subject 5.3. Ph se 3:Scientific Testing with Brain Fingerprinting 5.4. Phase 4:Adjudication of Guilt or Innocence 5.5. Role of science in Legal Proceedings 6. CURRENT USES AND APPLICATION 6.1. Medical Application 6.2. Advertising Application 6.3. Security Testing 6.4. Counter-Terrorist Applications 6.5. Other Applications 7. LIMITATIONS OF BRAIN-FINGERPRINTING 8. BIBLIOGRAPHY 2 2 2 2 4 4 4 4 5 5 6 6 7 9 13 13 14 15 15 16
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INTRODUCTION
1.1. About
Brain Fingerprinting was developed and patented in 1995 by Lawrence A. Farwell, Ph.D., chairman of the Brain Wave Institute in Fairfield, Iowa, and former Harvard University research associate. Brain fingerprinting is based on the theory that throughout any action, the brain plans, records, and executes all of the actions. Such details, all concealed within the brain, can now be revealed through brain fingerprinting. This technique measures how brain waves respond to specific words or pictures flashed across a screen. Pictures, both relevant and irrelevant to the actions, are shown. The relevant images should trigger memories of subject.
1.2.
Definition
"Brain Fingerprinting" is a controversial forensic science technique that determines whether specific information is stored in a subjects brain by measuring electrical brainwave responses to words, phrases, or pictures that are presented on a computer screen. Brain fingerprinting was invented by Lawrence Farwell. The theory is that the brain processes known, relevant information differently than it processes unknown or irrelevant information. Brain fingerprinting involves measuring the MERMER paradigm EEG response during interrogation. MERMER is Memory and Encoding Related Multifaceted Electroencephalography Responses. The brain print is based on the P300 complex, a series of well-known brainwave components that can be measured. The technique is said to be more effective than a lie detector test.
TECHNIQUE
The technique uses the well known fact that an electrical signal known as P300 is emitted from an individual's brain beginning approximately 300 milliseconds after it is confronted with a stimulus of special significance, e.g. a rare vs. a common stimulus or a stimulus the subject is asked to count. The application of this in brain fingerprinting is to detect the P300 as a response to stimuli related to the crime or other investigated situation, e.g., a murder weapon, victim's face, or knowledge of the internal workings of a terrorist cell. Because it is based on EEG signals, the system does not require the subject to issue verbal responses to questions or stimuli.
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The person to be tested wears a special headband with electronic sensors that measure the EEG from several locations on the scalp. The subject views stimuli consisting of words, phrases, or pictures presented on a computer screen. Stimuli are of three types: 1) irrelevant stimuli that are irrelevant to the investigated situation and to the test subject, 2) target stimuli that are relevant to the investigated situation and are known to the subject, 3) probe stimuli that are relevant to the investigated situation and that the subject denies knowing. Probes contain information that is known only to the perpetrator and investigators and not to the general public or to an innocent suspect who was not at the scene of the crime. Before the test, the scientist identifies the targets to the subject, and makes sure that he/she knows these relevant stimuli. The scientist also makes sure that the subject does not know the probes for any reason unrelated to the crime, and that the subject denies knowing the probes. The subject is told why the probes are significant (e.g., You will see several items, one of which is the murder weapon), but is
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not told which items are the probes and which are irrelevant. Since brain fingerprinting uses cognitive brain responses, brain fingerprinting does not depend on the emotions of the subject, nor is it affected by emotional responses. Brain fingerprinting is fundamentally different from the polygraph (lie-detector), which measures emotion-based physiological signals such as heart rate, sweating, and blood pressure. Also, unlike polygraph testing, it does not attempt to determine whether or not the subject is lying or telling the truth. Rather, it measures the subjects brain response to relevant words, phrases, or pictures to detect whether or not the relevant information is stored in the subjects brain. By comparing the responses to the different types of stimuli, the brain fingerprinting system mathematically computes a determination of information present (the subject knows the crime-relevant information contained in the probe stimuli) or information absent (the subject does not know the information) and a statistical confidence for the determination. This determination is mathematically computed, and does not involve the subjective judgment of the scientist. A suspect is provided with information as follows : Information the suspect is expected to know Information suspect shouldnt know Information of crime that only perpetrator would know Fig. 1: Not Guilty Fig. 2: Guilty
ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY
3.1. About
Electroencephalography (EEG) is the measurement of electrical activity produced by the brain as recorded from electrodes placed on the scalp. Just as the activity in a computer can be understood on multiple levels, from the activity of individual transistors to the function of applications, so can the electrical activity of the brain be described on relatively small to relatively large scales. At one end are action potentials in a single axon or currents within a single dendrite of a single neuron, and at the other end is the activity measured by the EEG which aggregates the electric voltage fields from millions of neurons. So-called scalp EEG is collected from tens to hundreds of electrodes positioned on different locations at the surface of the head. EEG signals (in the range of milli-volts) are amplified and digitalized for later processing. The data measured by the scalp EEG are used for clinical and research purposes.
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modalities like currents can be induced in moving EEG electrode wires due to the magnetic field of the MRI. EEG can be recorded at the same time as MEG so that data from these complimentary high-time-resolution techniques can be combined. Magneto-encephalography (MEG) is an imaging technique used to measure the magnetic fields produced by electrical activity in the brain via extremely sensitive devices such as superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). These measurements are commonly used in both research and clinical settings. There are many uses for the MEG, including assisting surgeons in localizing pathology, assisting researchers in determining the function of various parts of the brain, neuro-feedback, and others.
3.4.Method
Scalp EEG, the recording is obtained by placing electrodes on the scalp. Each electrode is connected to one input of a differential amplifier and a common system reference electrode is connected to the other input of each differential amplifier. These amplifiers amplify the voltage between the active electrode and the reference (typically 1,000100,000 times, or 60100 dB of voltage gain). A typical adult human EEG signal is about 10V to 100 V in amplitude when measured from the scalp [2] and is about 1020 mV when measured from subdural electrodes. In digital EEG systems, the amplified signal is digitized via an analog-to-digital converter, after being passed through an anti-aliasing filter. Since an EEG voltage signal represents a difference between the voltages at two electrodes, the display of the EEG for the reading encephalographer may be set up in one of several ways.
P300
The P300 (P3) wave is an event related potential (ERP) which can be recorded via electroencephalography (EEG) as a positive deflection in voltage at a latency of roughly 300 ms in the EEG. The signal is typically measured most strongly by the electrodes covering the parietal lobe. The presence, magnitude, topography and time of this signal are often used as metrics of cognitive function in decision making processes. While the neural substrates of this ERP still remain hazy, the reproducibility of this signal makes it a common choice for psychological tests in both the clinic and laboratory. The P300 signal is an aggregate recording from a great many neurons. Although typically non-invasive, parts of the signal may be sampled more directly from certain brain regions via electrode (hence, the medial temporal P300 or MTL-P300). This methodology allows for isolation and local recording of one area without the noise from other signals acquired through scalp electrodes [4]. In practice, the P300 waveform must be evoked using a stimulus delivered by one of the sensory modalities. One typical procedure is the 'oddball' paradigm, whereby a target stimulus is presented amongst more frequent standard background stimuli. A distracter stimulus may also be used to ensure that the response is due to the target rather than the change from a background pattern. The classic oddball paradigm has seen many variations, but in the end most protocols used to evoke the P300 involve some form of conscious realization or decision making. Attention is required for such protocols. No subjects have been noted to have fine control over their P300.
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between the alleged victim and the suspect as to all of the events that took place, but disagreement as to the intent of the parties. Investigators may have made the mistake of revealing to the suspect all that they know about a case. In such cases, no probe stimuli can be developed that will provide evidence relevant to the discrimination between a person who participated in the crime and one who did not, and no Brain Fingerprinting test will be conducted. The investigator must use his skill and judgment in discovering and evaluating information to be used in the Brain Fingerprinting test, and any other evidence he uncovers. There is always a degree of uncertainty in this process. If the investigator finds a gun lying by the body of a person who apparently died of gunshot wounds, he may conclude that it is the murder weapon. There is always a possibility, however, that it is not. For example, perhaps the perpetrator shot the victim with one gun and planted another gun to frame someone else. Ultimately, the evidence accumulated by the investigator will need to be weighed by the judge and jury for its bearing on the guilt or innocence of the suspect. Criminal investigation is not science. Investigation does involve a high degree of skill and expertise. The details uncovered by investigation are used as evidence in virtually every trial. Expert testimony by investigators in criminal trials is very common. When found to be relevant and based on reliable methodology, such evidence and testimony are universally accepted as a viable part of the proceedings in court. This still does not mean, however, that investigation is science. Unraveling the case and determining what is significant and relevant will always depend on the skill of the investigator. Each case is different, and there is an infinite variety of information that may be available to be discovered. There are no standardized algorithms or procedures that will solve every case. There will never be a time when we can simply feed all of the facts about a case into a computer, and the computer will tell us what is significant or how the case is to be solved. Although investigation is not science, investigation contributes substantially to legal proceedings, and the evidence and expert testimony provided by investigators will continue to be a valuable part of the process. Some research scientists have expressed the view that if we just conduct enough research, and define and study a nearly infinite panoply of parameters, someday the process of investigation will become a scientific process that can be accomplished by applying a set algorithm which does not depend on the skill and judgment of the investigator. There is no reason to believe or to hope that this will ever happen. It is our view that science will not, and should not, take the place of skilled criminal investigation. The infinite variety of factors in a crime, and the intimate involvement of human beings in every aspect of the crime, insure that the judgment and skill of the investigator will always be a necessary ingredient in criminal investigations. Science will never make skilled investigators obsolete, and should not attempt to do so. The process of determining which items to use as probe stimuli will always depend on the skill and judgment of the investigator, and will never be accomplished just by applying some set scientific algorithm in the absence of human judgment. Ultimately, the judge and jury will decide whether the evidence uncovered by the investigator and embodied in the probe stimuli is convincing regarding the guilt or innocence of the suspect.
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the suspects story is that he was never at the scene of the crime, then a match between his fingerprints and the fingerprints at that scene would be highly incriminating. If, on the other hand, the suspects story is that he was at the scene for some legitimate reason just before the crime, then fingerprints must be interpreted differently, particularly if there is corroborating evidence of the suspects presence at the scene before the crime. The interview with the suspect may help to determine which scientific tests to conduct, or how to conduct the tests. For example, a suspect may say that he entered and then left the room where a murder was committed a short time before the murder, and that he never saw or handled the murder weapon. In this context, a finding that the suspects fingerprints matched the fingerprints on the doorknob would have little value, but a finding that his fingerprints matched those on the murder weapon would provide incriminating evidence. Prior to a Brain Fingerprinting test, an interview of the suspect is conducted. The suspect is asked if he would have any legitimate reason for knowing any of the information that is contained in the potential probe stimuli. This information is described without revealing which stimuli are probes and which are irrelevants. For example, the suspect may be asked, The newspaper reports, which you no doubt have read, say that the victim was struck with a blunt object. Do you have any way of knowing whether that murder weapon was a baseball bat, a broom handle, or a blackjack? If the suspect answersNo, then a test result indicating that his brain does indeed contain a record of which of these is the murder weapon can provide evidence relevant to the case. The suspect may have been exposed to information about the crime through an error on the part of interrogators in previous interrogations, through familiarity with the scene or the victim that has nothing to do with the crime, through hearsay from people directly or indirectly involved, or through any number of other channels. It is vital that the suspect be given a chance before the Brain Fingerprinting test to disclose any familiarity he may have with the crime, so that any probes that he knows about for a legitimate reason can be eliminated from the test. Recall that the probes contain crime-relevant information that the suspect has no way of knowing except through having been present at the crime. The targets are also discussed in the interview. Recall that the targets contain information about the crime that the suspect knows whether he committed the crime or not, and are used to establish a baseline brain response for information known to be significant to this subject in the context of the crime. For example, if media reports known to the suspect have disclosed the location of a murder (e.g., behind Newton Stadium), then the location of the murder could be used as a target stimulus. In the interview, the interviewer makes sure that the suspect does indeed know the information contained in the target stimuli. In the interview, the suspect is also given a list of all of the stimuli to be presented in the test, without disclosing which stimuli are probes and which are irrelevants. The suspect is asked to identify any stimuli that are significant to him for reasons that have nothing to do with the crime. If any stimulus is significant to the suspect for reasons having nothing to do with the crime, then that stimulus is eliminated from the test. For example, if the suspect claims to know nothing about who committed the crime and to be unfamiliar with any of the other people who are suspected of being involved, one of the probe stimuli may be the name of a known accomplice. If that name also happens to be the name of the susp ects brother-in-law, then the stimulus would be significant to the suspect for reasons unrelated to the crime, and this stimulus would be eliminated from the test. In this way, the interview sets the stage for later interpretation of the test. If the suspect has just told investigators that none of the stimuli are significant to him for any reason, and then the probe stimuli are revealed through Brain Fingerprinting to be significant to the suspect in the context of the crime, this scientific finding provides evidence relevant to the suspects involvement in the crime. A frequently asked question is, What if one of the probe stimuli is significant to the suspect for the wrong reason? The interview serves to eliminate this potential confound, as described above. Things are significant to a person in context. The context of the probe stimuli in relation to the crime is
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established in the interview, and prior to the Brain Fingerprinting test. Immediately before each test, the context of the probe stimuli is established, and the probe stimuli are described without being specifically named. For example, the subject is told, In this test, you will see several items, one of which is the murder weapon. Then several different stimuli are presented, including the murder weapon (e.g., baseball bat)and several other options that would be equally plausible for an innocent person not familiar with the crime (e.g., broom handle). We all have some familiarity with baseball bats and broom handles, but in the context of the murder in which the baseball bat was the murder weapon baseball bat will be significant for the perpetrator and not for an innocent suspect who does not know what the murder weapon was. In some cases, the interview will reveal that the suspect is already familiar with all of the information that might be used to structure probe stimuli, for some reason unrelated to committing the crime. For example, interrogators may have mistakenly revealed to the suspect all that they know about the crime. In such a case, there is no remaining information to be used to structure probe stimuli, and a Brain Fingerprinting test is not conducted. If a Brain Fingerprinting test were conducted to test whether or not a suspect knew details of a crime that had been told to him by investigators, the test would result in an information present result, which would be correct. The probative value of such a result with respect to committing the crime, however, would be nil. Such a test would only reveal, correctly, that the suspect knows the information. Since the investigators already know for certain that the suspect knows the information because they told it to him this result would not provide any useful evidence with respect to solving the crime. This is why a test is not conducted under such circumstances. Note that this is a limitation only on when Brain Fingerprinting can be usefully applied, and not a limitation on the scientific accuracy or validity of the technique. As with DNA, fingerprints, and every other science, there are situations where a correct Brain Fingerprinting result is simply not useful in solving a particular crime. In short, Brain Fingerprinting determines scientifically and accurately what information is stored in a persons brain. It does not determine how that information got there. In order for Brain Fingerprinting to be useful in identifying a perpetrator that is, in order for a correct information present Brain Fingerprinting result to be useful evidence regarding a suspects participation in a crime investigators must first discover information that would be known to a perpetrator but not to an innocent suspect, and ensure that the subject in question has not obtained that information through some means other than participation in the crime. The interview contributes to this process. Science is useful only when applied appropriately and intelligently. If the aim is solving a crime or informing a judicial decision, then it is not useful to conduct scientific testing in a vacuum, absent any consideration of what the results will mean in the context of the crime. A test must be structured that will provide relevant and useful results. Also, once the results have been obtained, they are useful only if they are interpreted in the light of the other available evidence, as in the above example regarding fingerprints. Brain Fingerprinting is like all other sciences in this regard. The interview serves to refine the selection of stimuli so that the test results will provide useful and relevant information, to establish the relevance of the stimuli, to eliminate potential confounds in the scientific test, and to provide a background for interpretation of the test results once they are obtained.
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this determination. This determination is made according to a specific, scientific algorithm, and does not depend on the subjective judgment of the scientist. Brain Fingerprinting tells us the following, no more and no less: These specific details about this crime are (or are not) stored in this persons brain. On the basis of this and all of the other available evidence, a judge and jury make a determination of guilty or innocent. It has been proven in the scientific arena, and also in court, that the science of Brain Fingerprinting has the following attributes: 1) This science is testable and has been tested; 2) This science has been peer reviewed and published; 3) This science is accurate, has an error rate extremely close to zero, and has standard procedures for its application; 4) This science is well accepted in the relevant scientific community. These facts have been discussed extensively elsewhere, and will not be further elaborated here. In legal proceedings, the science of Brain Fingerprinting may play a central role, but not an all-inclusive role. The Brain Fingerprinting test is preceded by an investigation and followed by a legal determination, both of which fall outside the realm of science.
Brain Fingerprinting determines scientifically what information is stored in a persons brain. It does not determine how that information got there. In order for a determination that certain
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information is (or is not) stored in a suspects brain to be useful to a judge and jury, the significance of this finding with regard to the crime must be established. This is accomplished by the investigation and the interview, not by the Brain Fingerprinting test itself. Brain Fingerprinting is similar to other sciences in this regard. For example, as discussed above, a fingerprint test can determine that a suspects fingerprints match the fingerprints found at the scene of the crime, but the fingerprint test does not tell us whether that was because the suspect is guilty or because he was at the scene for a legitimate reason before the crime. Science can only provide scientific data in the case of Brain Fingerprinting, a determination of information present or information absent regarding specific details of a crime in a specific brain. Science, no matter how accurate and valid, is only useful in the context of an effective investigation. For example, the investigator must determine whether or not there is some innocent, legitimate reason why a suspects fingerprints are at the scene of the crime in order for the scientific finding of a fingerprint match to have value in legal proceedings. In the absence of adequate investigation, science no matter how accurate and valid may have little weight in the judicial process. Brain Fingerprinting is no exception. The investigation and interview that precede the scientific Brain Fingerprinting test are necessary to provide the information to test, and to provide a background as to the significance of the test vis--vis the crime once the scientific results are obtained. The weight of the Brain Fingerprinting evidence, and its value to the judge and jury in making their determination, depend in part on the effectiveness and skillful execution of the investigation that precedes the scientific testing. The science of Brain Fingerprinting does not tell us what information to test for. This is determined according to the skill and judgment of the investigator which is in the end evaluated by the judge and jury
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. Brain Fingerprinting does not test whether a person is guilty of a crime. This is adjudicated by the judge and jury. The question of guilt or innocence is a legal determination to be made by a judge and jury, not a scientific one to be made by a scientist or a computer. What Brain Fingerprinting does is to provide evidence that can be weighed by the judge and jury in making their determination of guilt or innocence.
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Fingerprinting does not tell us what information to test for. Again, this information is accumulated by the investigator according to his skill and judgment. Brain Fingerprinting tells us scientifically whether or not this specific information is stored in a specific persons brain. In the poisoning case mentioned above, science does not tell us whether a particular suspect is guilty. This is determined by the judge and jury according to their human judgment and common sense. The same is true of Brain Fingerprinting, and every other scientific procedure. Again, the science of Brain Fingerprinting does not tell us if a particular suspect is guilty or not. Only a judge and jury can make a determination of guilt or innocence, and they make this determination according to their human judgment, taking into account all of the scientific and other evidence. It is our view that science, whether it be Brain Fingerprinting or any other science, does not and should not seek to infringe the realm of the judge and jury in making a determination of guilt or innocence. Nor is science a substitute for skillful and effective investigation. Science depends on investigation, which is outside the realm of science, to determine when to test, whom to test, and what to test. The evidence provided by science and by investigation ultimately must be weighed and evaluated by the human beings who are the judge and jury, on the basis of their human judgment and common sense, in reaching their verdict regarding the guilt or innocence of the accused. It is fundamental to our legal system, and essential to the cause of justice, that the judge and jury must be supplied with all of the available evidence to aid them in reaching their verdict. Brain Fingerprinting provides solid scientific evidence that must be weighed along with other available evidence by the judge and jury. In our view, it would be a serious miscarriage of justice to deny a judge and jury the opportunity to hear and evaluate the evidence provided by the science of Brain Fingerprinting, when available, along with all of the other available evidence. In the case of a suspect presenting Brain Fingerprinting evidence supporting a claim of innocence, such a denial would also be unconscionable human rights violation. Brain Fingerprinting is not a substitute for the careful deliberations of a judge and jury. It can play a vital role in informing these deliberations, however, by providing accurate, scientific evidence relevant to the issues at hand.
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7) What is the correlation between the campaign and the point-of-sale? How do the various campaigns and the types of media affect awareness at point-of- sale. For example, which media is the most effective in raising awareness of a new product with potential buyers in a superstore? How does this media type and frequency vary in effectiveness with potential buyers on-line or with catalog users? 8) How do the effects of campaigns vary with the influence of time? How does the specific information retained by an individual or group of people vary over time? At what rate does the impact of an advertising campaign degrade or have diminishing impact? For example, a specific advertising campaign may have a strong impact short term, while another campaign causes the information to be retained over a longer period of time. How do these results vary with multiple types of media, product types and demographics?
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the brain of the perpetrator is always there, planning, executing, and recording the crime. The terrorist has knowledge of organizations, training and plans that an innocent person does not have. Until the invention of Brain Fingerprinting testing, there was no scientific way to detect this fundamental difference. Brain Fingerprinting testing provides an accurate, economical and timely solution to the central problem in the fight against terrorism. It is now possible to determine scientifically whether or not a person has terrorist training and knowledge of terrorist activities. Brain Finger-printing testing can determine quickly and accurately whether or not specific knowledge is present or absent in an individual. In a Brain Fingerprinting test, words, pictures or sounds relevant to a crime, terrorist act or terrorist training are presented by a computer, along with other irrelevant images and sounds. Electrical brain responses are measured non-invasively through a patented headband equipped with sensors. A computer then analyzes the brain responses and determines whether or not the specific information is stored in the brain of the suspect. The results are not affected by the willingness of the person being tested to tell the truth. By testing for specific information, Brain Fingerprinting technology can accurately distinguish between a trained terrorist and an innocent person who may have knowledge of certain locations, people and events for legitimate reasons. Brain Fingerprinting testing detects whether or not specific information is stored in a persons brain, not truth or falsehood. In fact, no questions are asked and no answers are given during a Brain Fingerprinting test. Brain Fingerprinting testing cannot be used for general, non-specific testing, something for which no reliable facts exist against which to compare the subjects answer. For example, a general question like Are you a terrorist? is not something that can be addressed by Brain Fingerprinting technology. However, the recognition of specific information from terrorist training or of individuals at a training camp can be detected. Investigators must have reliable, factual details from which to draw the information that will be used to structure the Brain Fingerprinting test. Any known legitimate means through which a subject may have encountered crime or terrorist-relevant information are examined prior to conducting a Brain Fingerprinting test. Standard protocols ensure that the individual has a chance to reveal any circumstances through which he may have had legitimate access to the crime-relevant information in question. Any information the suspect has obtained through legitimate means is eliminated from consideration before the test is administered. A suspect is tested only on information that he has no legitimate means of knowing, information he denies knowledge of, and for which he has no legitimate explanation if it turns out that the information is indeed stored in his brain. With the Brain Fingerprinting system, a significant scientific breakthrough has now become a practical applied technology. A new era in security and intelligence gathering has begun. Now, terrorists and those supporting terrorism can be identified quickly and accurately. No longer should any terrorist be able to evade justice for lack of evidence. And there is no reason why an innocent individual should be falsely imprisoned or convicted of terrorist activity. A Brain Fingerprinting test can determine with an extremely high degree of accuracy those who are involved with terrorist activity and those who are not.
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media types. In the insurance industry, Brain Fingerprinting Laboratories will be able to help reduce the incidence of insurance fraud by determining if an individual has knowledge of fraudulent or criminal acts. The same type of testing can help to determine if an individual has specific knowledge related to computer crimes where there is typically no witness or physical evidence.
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for knowledge that he would have no way to know except by committing the crime. 5) Another situation where brain fingerprinting is not applicable is one where the authorities have no information about what crime may have taken place. For example, an individual may disappear under circumstances where a specific suspect had a strong motive to murder the individual. Without any evidence, authorities do not know whether a murder took place, or the individual decided to take a trip and tell no one, or some other criminal or non-criminal event happened. If there is no known information on which a suspect could be tested, a brain fingerprinting test cannot be structured. 6) Similarly, brain fingerprinting is not applicable for general screening, for example, in general pre-employment or employee screening wherein any number of undesirable activities or intentions may be relevant. If the investigators have no idea what crime or undesirable act the individual may have committed, there is no way to structure appropriate stimuli to detect the telltale knowledge that would result from committing the crime. Brain fingerprinting can, however, be used for specific screening or focused screening, when investigators have some idea what they are looking for. For example, brain fingerprinting can be used to detect whether a person has knowledge that would identify him as an FBI agent, an Al-Qaeda-trained terrorist, a member of a criminal organization or terrorist cell, or a bomb maker. 7) Brain fingerprinting does not detect lies. It simply detects information. No questions are asked or answered during a brain fingerprinting test. The subject neither lies nor tells the truth during a brain fingerprinting test, and the outcome of the test is unaffected by whether he has lied or told the truth at any other time. The outcome of information present or information absent depends on whether the relevant information is stored in the brain, and not on what the subject says about it. 8) Brain fingerprinting does not determine whether a suspect is guilty or innocent of a crime. This is a legal determination to be made by a judge and jury, not a scientific determination to be made by a computer or a scientist. Brain fingerprinting can provide scientific evidence that the judge and jury can weigh along with the other evidence in reaching their decisions regarding the crime. To remain within the realm of scientific testimony, however, a brain fingerprinting expert witness must testify only regarding the scientific test and information stored in the brain revealed by the test, as Dr. Farwell did in the Harrington case. Like the testimony of other forensic scientists, a brain fingerprinting scientists testimony does not include interpreting the scientific evidence in terms of guilt or innocence. A DNA expert may testify that two DNA samples match, one from the crime scene and one from the suspect, but he does not conclude this man is a murderer. Similarly, a brain fingerprinting expert can testify to the outcome of the test that the subject has specific information stored in his brain about the crime (or not), but the interpretation of this evidence in terms of guilt or innocence is solely up to the judge and jury. 9) Just as all witness testimony depends on the memory of the witness, brain fingerprinting depends on the memory of the subject. Like all witness testimony, brain fingerprinting results must be viewed in light of the limitations on human memory and the factors affecting it (Harrington v. State, PBS 2004). Brain fingerprinting can provide scientific evidence regarding what information is stored in a subjects brain. It does not determine what information should be, could be, or would be stored in the subjects brain if the subject were innocent or guilty. It only measures what actually is stored in the brain. How this evidence is interpreted, and what conclusions are drawn based on it, is outside the realm of the science and the scientist. This is up to the judge and jury. It is up to the prosecutor and the defense attorney to argue, and the judge and jury to decide, the significance and weight of the brain fingerprinting evidence in making a determination of whether or not the subject committed the crime.
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10) Like all forensic science techniques, brain fingerprinting depends on the evidence- gathering process which lies outside the realm of science to provide the evidence to be scientifically tested. Before a brain fingerprinting test can be conducted, an investigator must discover relevant information about the crime or investigated situation. This investigative process, in which the investigator gathers the information to be tested from the crime scene or other sources related to the crime, depends on the skill and judgment of the investigator. This process is outside the scientific process; it precedes the scientific process of brain fingerprinting. This investigative process produces the probe stimuli to be tested. Brain fingerprinting science only determines whether the information tested is stored in the brain of the subject or not. It does not provide scientific data on the effectiveness of the investigation that produced the information about the crime that was tested. In this regard, brain fingerprinting is similar to other forensic sciences. A DNA test determines only whether two DNA samples match, it does not determine whether the investigator did an effective job of collecting DNA from the crime scene. Similarly, a brain fingerprinting test determines only whether or not the information stored in the suspect's brain matches the information contained in the probe stimuli. This is information that the investigator provided to the scientist to test scientifically, based on the investigative process that is outside the realm of science. In making their determination about the crime and the suspect's possible role in it, the judge and jury must take into account not only the scientific determination of "information present" or "information absent" provided by the brain fingerprinting test; they must also make common-sense, human, non-scientific judgments regarding the information gathered by the investigator and to what degree knowledge or lack of knowledge of that information sheds light on the suspect's possible role in the crime. Brain fingerprinting is not a substitute for effective investigation on the part of the invest igator or for common sense and good judgment on the part of the judge and jury.
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1) Farwell LA, Donchin E. The brain detector: P300 in the detection of deception. Psychophysiology 1986; 24:434. 2) Farwell LA, Donchin E. The truth will out: interrogative polygraphy ("lie detection") with event-related brain potentials. Psychophysiology 1991;28:531-541. 3) Farwell LA, inventor. Method and apparatus for multifaceted electroencephalographic response analysis (MERA). US patent 5,363,858. 1994 Nov 15. 4) Farwell LA. Two new twists on the truth detector: brain-wave detection of occupational information. Psychophysiology 1992;29(4A):S3. 5) Farwell LA, inventor. Method and apparatus for truth detection. US patent 5,406,956. 1995 Apr 18. 6) Picton TW. Handbook of electroencephalography and clinical neurophysiology: human event-related potentials. Amsterdam: Elsevier, Vol. 3, 1988. 7) www.brainwavescience.com 8) www.searchsecurity.techtarget.com/sDefinition/
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2011
Brain Fingerprinting
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