4th Entry

After reading two articles on computational modeling in brain studies, I was amazed at how scientists have had better understanding on how the brain process. However, despise the new promising advanced technology on society, it also has some ethical issues as well as technical problems.

The first article, "A computer that can 'read' your mind" describes how computational modeling could be used to read a human's mind. The functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) is used to locate and detect brain activity when the subject thinks about a specific word. The advanced modeling could even predict the brain activation patterns even if the fMRT images for a specific noun were not created in the database. The accuracy is also better for cases that the activation patterns were know before hand. It improved the reliability of the modeling. This research could be further improved to use brain scans to predict symptoms of disorder and identify thoughts.

The next article, "Ethics and mapping the brain", is mostly about ethical issues involved in using fMRI to read human's mind. By using the images from the fMRI scan, brain activity and behavior patterns could reveal a person's thought, memory, or even show whether one is lying. Although the new technology could be used to cure diseases, there are still some doubts about its accuracy of. For that reasons, standards and regulations should be set to guide the new technology for a proper use. Another way is to seek consent. However, criminal might use this consent to refuse scanning. Another ethical issue is related to privacy since a person’s private thought and memory are exposed. The most controversial issue would be ethical considerations the testing of children. There are still many questions left unanswered about who should be tested and how the data would be used and kept, as the author mentioned in his article.

National Science Foundation. (2008,May 30). A computer that can ‘read’ your mind [Press release 08-091]. Retrieved February 12, 2009, form http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=111641&org=olpa&from=news

Marano, L. (2003, June 3) Ethics and mapping the brain (an abridged version of the original in the Washington Times). Retrieved February 12, 2009, from the Center for Cognitive Liberty and Ethics Web Site: http://www.cognitiveliberty.org/neuro/brain_mapping_ethics.htm

5-relevant vocabulary:

1. Hypothetical: assumed by hypothesis; supposed
2. Schizophrenia: a long-term mental disorder of a type involving a break down in the relation between thought, emotion, and behavior.
3. Psychiatry: a medical specialty devoted to the treatment, study and prevention of mental disorders
4. Cerebrovascular disease: is a group of brain dysfunctions related to disease of blood vessels supplying the brain
5. Pedophilia: sexual behavior that involves an abnormal interest in children