Is Minority Report (the movie) merely a fiction? A newest research report from Harvard tells otherwise.

Really? Brain 'fingerprints' can help nail criminals?

FAIRFIELD, Iowa - A technique called 'brain fingerprinting', which seeks to probe whether a suspect has knowledge of a crime, could become a powerful weapon in law enforcement, its inventor believes.

Dr Lawrence Farwell, a Harvard-educated neuroscientist, who founded Brain Fingerprinting Laboratories Incorporated 12 years ago, said: 'From a scientific perspective, brain fingerprinting could have substantial benefits in identifying terrorists or in exonerating people accused of being terrorists.'

But critics are dismissive.

'There's no evidence you can determine evil intent or anything else from brain fingerprinting. It's the 21st century version of the lie detector test, which also doesn't work very well,' said Mr Barry Steinhardt, who directs a technology programme for the American Civil Liberties Union.

Brain fingerprinting works by measuring and analysing split-second spikes in electrical activity in the brain when it responds to something it recognises.

For example, if a suspected murderer was shown a detail of the crime scene that only he would know, his brain would involuntarily register that knowledge. Under Dr Farwell's system, that brain activity is picked up through electrodes attached to the suspect's scalp and measured by an electroencephalograph (EEG) as a waveform. A person who had never seen that crime scene would show no reaction.

In 1999, Dr Farwell used his technique to solve a 1984 murder in Missouri. Police suspected a local woodcutter, James Grinder, of kidnapping, raping and murdering Ms Julie Helton, a 25-year-old woman, but lacked the evidence to convict him.

He agreed to undergo brain fingerprinting.

Dr Farwell flashed on a computer screen details of the crime that only the murderer would have known, including items taken from the victim, where the body was located and details of the wounds on the corpse.

'What his brain said was that he was guilty,' the scientist said. 'He had critical, detailed information only the killer would have.'

Grinder pleaded guilty a week later in exchange for a life sentence in prison, avoiding the death penalty.

Can brain fingerprinting really help nail criminals? Some scientists say more investigation is needed into aspects such as how memory is affected by drugs and alcohol, mental illness and extreme anxiety in crime situations.

Meanwhile, Dr Farwell is pressing on. He wants to explore the use of brain fingerprinting to detect and monitor the onset of Alzheimer's disease.

He also sees commercial interest from advertisers anxious to measure how effective their commercials are, which parts are remembered and which forgotten. --Reuters