Last night I attended my very first World Science Festival event. I have to say, it was very impressive. The topic was the Transparent Brain, in which a panel of neuroscientists discussed several cutting edge technologies used to visualize neurophysiological processes.

First up was Dr. John-Dylan Haynes who uses fMRI to decode thoughts, emotions and memory. Ultimately, Haynes hopes to pinpoint areas of neural activity in the brain in order to understand how to encode thoughts. Haynes described an experiment in his laboratory in which subjects were asked to push a button on either the left or right side of them, while being scanned in an fMRI. In addition to pushing the button, subjects were also asked to remember the instant at which they made the decision to choose the left or right button, by coordinating it with a letter on a screen in front of them. Haynes then examined the neural activity of the subjects prior to the decision to determine if they could accurately predict whether the subject would choose the left or right button.

Also using fMRI, Dr. Frank Tong discussed his work, which aims to understand how visual thoughts are represented in the brain. Presently, Tong and his colleagues are examining one of the most basic units of pattern recognition, orientation. While both Tong’s and Haynes’ work may seem rudimentary in comparison with the sci-fi mind reading devices we have seen in movies, understanding the building blocks of how pattern recognition occurs is critical to understanding how the brains functions. The panelists repeatedly stressed that their work is still in its infancy, but the prospects for growth in this field of research are strong.

Another panelist, Dr. John Donoghue uses multielectrode recording arrays to develop therapies for paralysis patients. Donoghue is the developer of BrainGate, a technology which uses electrodes to sense action potentials of neurons and decodes these neural signals in order to control a cursor on a computer screen. In plain terms, the chip is placed into the patient’s head and, through recognition of electro-magnetic signals in the brain, a computer is able to interpret these signals into a command. Thus, by thinking about clicking an icon on a screen, the patient is able to do so (in a similar fashion to the way you move your limbs). Again, Donoghue stressed that this technology is still quite young, but the therapeutic possibilities are promising.

Finally, neuroethicist Dr. Paul Root Wolpe discussed potential legal and ethical issues that may arise in the near future, as a result of advanced brain imaging techniques. What happens if brain imaging is able to determine is someone is lying or not? In order to be valid in a court of law, how accurate would this technology need to be? If you can look into someone’s brain, is that a violation of the Fifth Amendment? Could fMRI image be used to determine if someone is abnormal in a court of law, allowing a defendant to claim insanity? All of these questions will need to be addressed as brain imaging techniques develop. It is likely that we will see more of these issues in the future, as neurophysiological research is advancing rapidly.