FSHD 347 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Positron, Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act

• School: University of Arizona
• Department: Fam. Studies & Human Dev. Main
• Course: FSHD 347
• Professor: Alex Von Stein

Document Summary

The question addressed here is whether neuroimaging technologies that allow us to scan or otherwise picture the structure and activity of the brain can help us understand the mind of the individual whose brain is scanned. And, if so, what rights to privacy individuals might have with regard to scans of their own brains. Phrenology was a pseudo-scienti c attempt to link the shape and size of a person"s skull to the features of their mind and their tendencies to act. Certain skull shapes would, for example, indicate that the individual has a devious or low mind. Phrenology has been completely disproven in experiment and generally discredited. Like phrenology, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fmri) and positron emission tomography (pet) attempt to give an indication of a person"s mind by looking at their brain. However fmri and pet techniques are quite different from phrenology.