05.20.08

Brain Scans as Mind Readers? Don’t Believe the Hype

Posted in Neuro, Technology at 9:09 am by rheil

Brain Scans as Mind Readers? Don’t Believe the Hype (Wired)

By Daniel Carla

“So here’s your brain,” the doctor says, as the center of my mental life pirouettes before me, rendered in electric blues and reds. Daniel Amen, MD, manipulates the screen image with a few taps on his keyboard.

“It looks good, pretty symmetrical. Red means more activity, blue means less.”

We’re peering at a Spect scan taken a half hour ago. He takes a closer look. Spect scans are a type of brain-imaging technology that measures neural activity by looking at blood flow. “The only question I’d ask you is whether you’ve ever had a brain injury, because there is low activity in your occipital cortex and your parietal lobe, all on the left side. [...]

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