Can Brain Activity Predict Criminal Reoffending?

Is it possible for a brain scan to predict whether a recently paroled inmate will commit another crime within 4 years? A new study by Aharoni et al. (2013) suggests that the level of activity within the anterior cingulate cortex might provide a clue to whether a given offender will be rearrested.Dress this up a bit and combine with a miniaturized brain-computer interface that continuously uploads EEG activity to the data center at a maximum security prison. There, machine learning algorithms determine with high accuracy whether a given pattern of neural oscillations signals the imminent intent to reoffend that will trigger deep brain stimulation in customized regions of prefrontal cortex, and you have the plot for a 1990s cyberpunk novel.But we're getting way ahead of ourselves here...Dr. Kent Kiehl outside the mobile scanner his group uses to look at the brains of inmates at New Mexico prisons. Credit: Nature News.The actual study in question used functional MRI to scan the brains of 96 male inmates at two New Mexico state correctional facilities while they performed a cognitive task (Aharoni et al., 2013). The task required responding to a frequent stimulus presented 84% of the time ("X") and inhibiting responses to the rare stimulus ("K").Fig. S4. (Aharoni et al., 2013). Go/No-Go task.The major comparison examined brain activity on incorrect responses to "K" (commission errors) vs. correct responses to "X" (hits). This contrast was restricted to a region of interest ...

Source: The Neurocritic - March 28, 2013 Category: Psychiatrists and Psychologists Authors: The Neurocritic Source Type: blogs