Bob on Medical Device Software

India’s Novel Use of Brain Scans in Courts Is Debated details how the Brain Electrical Oscillations Signature (BEOS) test  was used to convict a 24 year old woman of murder. It was reported in July (This brain test maps the truth) that the BEOS test was found admissible in court in two murder cases.

I've discussed Mind Reading Software a number of times in the past, including Brain Fingerprinting (also see here).  A more thorough analysis of this type of EEG technology, BEOS, and fMRI can be found here: Is Guilt Written in the Brain? There are several good links to scientific papers on the subject, and it also hits the nail on the head with this conclusion about the murder conviction:

At this point this is the equivalent of using pseudoscience in the courtroom. This is as irresponsible as basing a verdict on the ramblings of a psychic - except that it comes with the trappings of science and legitimacy.

(Hat tip: Medgadget)

UPDATE (9/20/08):

This is related, but not worth another post: The Army's Totally Serious Mind-Control Project (Hat tip: Slashdot). The goal is to "lead to direct mental control of military systems by thought alone." That's pretty ambitious. They reference the Emotiv headset, but the whole concept of using EEG-based systems for any type of control purposes is still a stretch. Fortunately, the investment is small -- the Army probably spends more than $4 million a day on toilet paper.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 17th, 2008 at 7:52 pm and is filed under EEG, fMRI. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.