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INTRODUCTION
Brain Fingerprinting is a controversial proposed investigative technique that measures recognition of familiar stimuli by measuring electrical brain wave 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 suspect's reaction to the details of an event or activity will reflect if the suspect had prior knowledge of the event or activity. This test uses what Farwell calls the MERMER ("Memory and Encoding Related Multifaceted Electroencephalographic Response") response to detect familiarity reaction. One of the applications is lie detection. Dr. Lawrence A. Farwell has invented, developed, proven, and patented the technique of Farwell Brain Fingerprinting, a new computer-based technology to identify the perpetrator of a crime accurately and scientifically by measuring brain-wave responses to crime-relevant words or pictures presented on a computer screen. Farwell Brain Fingerprinting has proven 100% accurate in over 120 tests, including tests on FBI agents, tests for a US intelligence agency and for the US Navy, and tests on real-life situations including actual crimes.
1.1 DEFINITION:
Brain Fingerprinting is designed to determine whether an individual recognizes specific information related to an event or activity by measuring electrical brain wave responses to words, phrases, or pictures presented on a computer screen. The technique can be applied only in situations where investigators have a sufficient amount of specific information about an event or activity that would be known only to the perpetrator and Investigator. In this respect, Brain Fingerprinting is considered a type of Guilty Knowledge Test,where the "guilty" party is expected to react strongly to the relevant detail of the event of activity. Existing (polygraph) procedures for assessing the validity of a suspect's "guilty" knowledge rely on measurement of autonomic arousal (e.g.,palm sweating and heart rate), while Brain Fingerprinting measures electrical brain activity via a fitted headband containing special sensors.
Fig. 1.1 Waves to detect guilt Brain Fingerprinting is said to be more accurate in detecting "guilty" knowledge distinct from the false positives of traditional polygraph methods, but this is hotly disputed by specialized researchers.
1.2 TECHNIQUE:
The person to be tested wears a special headband with electronic sensors that measure the electroencephalography from several locations on the scalp.
In order to calibrate the brain fingerprinting system, the testee is presented with a series of irrelevant stimuli, words, and pictures, and a series of relevant stimuli, words, and pictures. The test subject's brain response to these two different types of stimuli allow the testor to determine if the measured brain responses to test stimuli, called probes, are more similar to the relevant or irrelevant responses. The technique uses the well known fact that an electrical signal known as P300 is Emitted from an individual's brain approximately 300 milliseconds after it is confronted with a stimulus of special significance, e.g. a rare vs. a common stimuls or a stimulus the proband is asked to count. The novel interpretation in brain fingerprinting is to look for P300 as response to stimuli related to the crime in question e.g., a murder weapon or a victim's face. Because it is based on EEG signals, the system does not require the testee to issue Verbal responses to questions or stimuli. 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.
CHAPTER 2
ELECTROENCEPHALOGRAPHY
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 transistor s 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. Socalled 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.
temporalresolution data can be recorded at the same time as high-spatial-resolution data, however, since the data derived from each occurs over a different time course, the data sets do not necessarily represent the exact same brain activity. There are technical difficulties associated with combining these two 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. Magnetoencephalography (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.
2.3 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 inamplitude 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.
CHAPTER 3
ROLE IN CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS
The application of Brain Fingerprinting testing in a criminal case involves four phases: investigation, interview, scientific testing, and adjudication. Of these four phases, only the third one is in the domain of science. The first phase is undertaken by a skilled investigator, the second by an interviewer who may be an investigatoror a scientist, the third by a scientist, and the fourth by a judge and jury. This is similar to the forensic application of other sciences. For example, if a person is found dead of unknown causes, first there is an investigation to determine if there may have been foul play. If there is a suspect involved, the suspect is interviewed to determine what role, if any, he says he has had in the situation. If the investigation determines that the victim may have been poisoned using ricin or cadmium, two rare and powerful poisons, then scientific tests can be conducted to detect these specific substances in the body. Then the evidence accumulated through the test, the investigation, and theinterview are presented to a judge and jury, who make the adjudication as to whether a particular suspect is guilty of a particular crime. In such a case, the science of forensic toxicology reveals only whether or not specific toxins are in the body. It does not tell us when or where to look for toxins, or which toxins to look for. We must rely on investigation to provide the necessary guidance on these issues.The science of forensic toxicology also does not tell us whether a particular suspect is innocent or guilty of a crime. The question of guilt or innocence is a legal one, not a scientific one, and the adjudication is made by a judge and jury, and not by a scientist or a computer.
their verdict, then the information tested must have a bearing on the perpetration of the crime.
and the interview. The output of this scientific procedure is a determination of information present or information absent for those specific probe stimuli, along with a statistical confidence for 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.
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.
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.
CHAPTER 4
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reason why an innocent individual should be falsely imprisoned or convicted terrorist activity. A Brain Fingerprinting test can determine with an extremelyhigh degree of accuracy those who are involved with terrorist activity and thosewho are not.
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Fig. 4.3 Medical treatment The 30 minute test involves wearing a headband with built-in electrodes; technicians then present words, phrases and images that are both known and unknown to the patient to determine whether information that should be in the brain is still there. When presented with familiar information, the brain responds by producing MERMERs, specific increases in neuron activity. The technician can use this response to measure how quickly information is disappearing from the brain and whether the drugs they are taking are slowing down the process.
able to help determine what information is actually retained in memory by individuals. For example , In a branding campaign do people remember the brand, the product, etc. and how do the results vary with demographics? We will also be able to measure the comparative effectiveness of multiple 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.
4.6 ADVANTAGES Brain Fingerprinting has been thoroughly and scientifically tested. The rate of error is extremely low -- virtually nonexistent -- and clear standards governing Scientific techniques of operation of the technology have been established and published. Record of 100% accuracy
4.7 LIMITATIONS
The limitations of this technique are discussed with examples (in crime scenarios) as follows: 1)Brain fingerprinting detects information-processing brain responses that reveal what information is stored in the subjects brain. It does not detect how that information got there. This fact has implications for how and when the technique can be applied. In a case where a suspect claims not to have been at the crime scene and has no legitimate reason for knowing the details of the crime and investigators have information that has not been released to the public, brain fingerprinting can determine objectively whether or not the subject possesses that information. In such a case, brain fingerprinting could provide useful evidence. If, however, the suspect knows everything that the investigators know about the crime for some legitimate reason, then the test cannot be applied. There are several circumstances in which this may be the case. If a suspect acknowledges being at the scene of the crime, but claims to be a witness and not a perpetrator, then the fact that he knows details about the crime would not be incriminating. There would be no reason to conduct a test ,because the resulting information present response would simply show that the suspect knew the details about the
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crime knowledge which he already admits and which he gained at the crime scene whether he was a witness or a perpetrator. 2)Another case where brain fingerprinting is not applicable would be one Wherein a suspect and an alleged victim say, of an alleged sexual assault agree on the details of what was said and done, but disagree on the intent of the parties. Brain fingerprinting detects only information, and not intent. The fact that the suspect knows the uncontested facts of the circumstance does not tell us which partys version of the intent is correct. 3)In a case where the suspect knows everything that the investigators know because he has been exposed to all available information in a previous trial,there is no available information with which to construct probe stimuli, so a test cannot be conducted. Even in a case where the suspect knows many of the details about the crime, however, it is sometimes possible to discover salient information that the perpetrator must have encountered in the course of committing the crime, but the suspect claims not to know and would not know if he were innocent. This was the case with Terry Harrington. By examining reports, interviewing witnesses, and visiting the crime scene and surrounding areas, Dr. Farwell was able to discover salient features of the crime that Harrington had never been exposed to at his previous trials. The brain fingerprinting test showed that the record in Harringtons brain did not contain these salient features of the crime, but only the details about the crime that he had learned after the fact. 4)Obviously, in structuring a brain fingerprinting test, a scientist must avoid including information that has been made public. Detecting that a suspect knows information he obtained by reading a newspaper would not be of use in a criminal investigation, and standard brain fingerprinting procedures eliminate all such information from the structuring of a test. News accounts containing many of the details of a crime do not interfere with the development of a brain fingerprinting test, however; they simply limit the material that can be tested. Even in highly publicized cases, there are almost always many details that are known to the investigators but not released to the public, and these can be used as stimuli to test the subject for knowledge that he would have no way to know except by committing the crime.
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CHAPTER 5
CONCLUSION:
Brain Fingerprinting is a revolutionary new scientific technology for solving crimes, identifying perpetrators, and exonerating innocent suspects, with a record of 100% accuracy in research with US government agencies, actual criminal cases, and other applications. The technology fulfills an urgent need for governments, law enforcement agencies, corporations, investigators, crime victims, and falsely accused, innocent suspects.
FUTURE SCOPE:
In the years since Dr. Farwell first began applying the technology in the real world, proponents. Critics, including some scientists, and those whose criminal activities have been thwarted by brain fingerprinting have advocated further delay in applying the technique. Farwell and colleagues as well as other, independent scientists who have precisely replicated Farwells research or used similar methods, have obtained accuracy rates approaching 100% in both laboratory and field conditions . Controversy has arisen over the best explanation for the fact that Farwell and others who use similar scientific methods have achieved near-100% accuracy (Farwell et al. 2006), while Rosenfelds alternative method yielded variable accuracy, sometimes as low as chance (Rosenfeld et al. 2004). Proponents advocate continuing the use of brain fingerprinting to bring criminals and terrorists to justice and to free innocent suspects, while at the same time more research is continuing. Dr. Farwell are among the scientists who advocate continuing the use of brain fingerprinting in criminal investigations and counterterrorism, without delay, as well as ongoing research on the technology. Proponents of the continued use of brain fingerprinting in criminal and counterterrorism cases cite the peer-reviewed research on the accuracy of brain fingerprinting in the laboratory and the field, the fact that it has been ruled admissible in court, the vital counterterrorism applications, and the benefits of bringing criminals such as serial killer to justice and freeing innocent convicts
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BIBLIOGRAPHY: 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;28:531541. 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:
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