Neuroethics Publications
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
2014
Publication Source
Nature Reviews Neuroscience
Volume
15
Start Page
123
Last Page
131
DOI
10.1038/nrn3665
Abstract
Functional MRI (fMRI)-based lie detection has been marketed as a tool for enhancing personnel selection, strengthening national security and protecting personal reputations, and at least three US courts have been asked to admit the results of lie detection scans as evidence during trials. How well does fMRI-based lie detection perform, and how should the courts, and society more generally, respond? Here, we address various questions — some of which are based on a meta-analysis of published studies — concerning the scientific state of the art in fMRI-based lie detection and its legal status, and discuss broader ethical and societal implications. We close with three general policy recommendations.
Keywords
fMRI, functional magnetic resonance imaging, functional MRI, lie detection
Recommended Citation
Farah, M. J., Hutchinson, J., Phelps, E. A., & Wagner, A. D. (2014). Functional MRI-Based Lie Detection: Scientific and Societal Challenges. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 15 123-131. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nrn3665
Included in
Bioethics and Medical Ethics Commons, Criminology Commons, Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons, Neuroscience and Neurobiology Commons, Neurosciences Commons
Date Posted: 15 May 2015
This document has been peer reviewed.
Comments
Correction for the published paper, 19 Feb. 2014:
An incorrect paper was cited as reference 2 of this article. The correct paper is Ganis, G., Rosenfeld, J. P., Meixner, J., Kievit, R. A. & Schendan, H. E. Lying in the scanner: covert countermeasures disrupt deception detection by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Neuroimage 55, 312–319 (2011). This has been corrected in the online version.
doi:10.1038/nrn3702