Could Brain Imaging Predict Human Behavior?

Will brain imaging eventually be able to predict people's behavior? That's the intriguing question that is posed in this recent presentation. I think at present this is pure science fiction. However, brain imaging is increasing in resolution and detail. Researchers are creating more highly accurate computer simulations of the brain. Scientists have also begun to decode and read brain activity. Eventually the convergence of this technology may mean scientists can begin to correlate outward behavior with brain activity. Perhaps a whole field will emerge trying to predict people's behavior in the future. Companies already try to predict people's behavior to a certain extent in order to increase their sales. So this would be the next step in that direction.

Here's the abstract to the presentation.

COULD BRAIN IMAGING PREDICT OUR BEHAVIOUR? Brain imaging is one of the most impressive technologies of the last 50 years, but is it advanced enough yet to read the mind? Already some large corporations are trying to chart the sequence of events within the brain that leads us to choose a particular brand of product. Is this acceptable to society as a way of improving products in response to customer feedback? Doctors and researchers can already glean valuable information about the damaged brain from imaging techniques, and knowing which areas of the brain are active during certain behaviours is invaluable for medicine and science. The intriguing possibility that the final frontier for brain imaging could be to work out what people are thinking and predict their behaviour will be explored in the presentation.Other issues raised are whether legal trials could be fairer with brain scans used as evidence in court cases or does it raise the frightening spectre of George Orwell’s thought police.

If this were in fact possible then it opens up all sorts of possibilities that society might have to deal with. How does a person protect their own rights when companies or governments are able to predict their behavior in advance? What type of agency should be allowed to have this much power? These are not easy questions to answer by any means.