The field of neuroscience has come a long way from the physical study of the brain by way of dissecting the deceased or experimenting on live animals, to today’s age where one could see the brain in real-time via functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The fMRI is a noninvasive technique that provides images that detects the changes in blood flow that in parts of the brain that are more active than others. The information can then be compared to existing anatomical knowledge of the brain to determine what part of the brain is being accessed; such as the temporal lobe which is commonly associated with storing memories, or the excessive activity in the prefrontal cortex which could indicate deception, (Brainfacts.org). The images can also uncover any unusual activity or if there is damage to the
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It is for this reason that it is difficult for members of the jury to understand what they are looking at when shown fMRI images, making it easy to mislead or confuse to jury (Gazzaniga, 2011). One such case is The People v. Weinstein in which Herbert Weinstein was convicted for murder where he strangled his wife and then threw her body out of a twelve story window to make it look like a suicide. The defense tried to argue that Weinstein was not in a right of a state of mind due to a large cyst impinging his brain. Daniel Martell, a forensic neuropsychologist who examined and testified against Weinstein referred to the fMRI images as nothing more than fancy pictures meant to stir a jury, (Davis, 2012). Martell says, “It was the Christmas tree effect… lots of people ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ at the pictures. It doesn’t tell you anything about a person’s behavior” (Davis, 2012). The court allowed the fMRI images as evidence of the cyst existence but not as evidence that the cyst was a cause of Weinstein
It is for this reason that it is difficult for members of the jury to understand what they are looking at when shown fMRI images, making it easy to mislead or confuse to jury (Gazzaniga, 2011). One such case is The People v. Weinstein in which Herbert Weinstein was convicted for murder where he strangled his wife and then threw her body out of a twelve story window to make it look like a suicide. The defense tried to argue that Weinstein was not in a right of a state of mind due to a large cyst impinging his brain. Daniel Martell, a forensic neuropsychologist who examined and testified against Weinstein referred to the fMRI images as nothing more than fancy pictures meant to stir a jury, (Davis, 2012). Martell says, “It was the Christmas tree effect… lots of people ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ at the pictures. It doesn’t tell you anything about a person’s behavior” (Davis, 2012). The court allowed the fMRI images as evidence of the cyst existence but not as evidence that the cyst was a cause of Weinstein