One potentially fruitful area for brain imaging is in understanding why we make the choices we do. Economists and strategists have a vested interest in making these sorts of predictions. They have devised a whole field of mathematics 鈥� game theory 鈥� to try to uncover the rules of decision making, but it turns out that we lesser mortals just won鈥檛 comply with their mathematical formulae. Now, by combining game theory with brain imaging, scientists are beginning to see why our decision making isn鈥檛 necessarily rational, and how factors such as emotions and social context influence the choices we make. Already they can predict the choices monkeys will make by the pattern of activity in a single neuron. Could we be next? Will imaging one day allow others to consider your options even before you have? (鈥淲hy you do what you do鈥�).
From knowing what you want, it is a short leap to manipulating what you want. Advertising agents and marketers have been trying to do this for decades, but their methods are not exactly scientific. Now, with the dawn of neuromarketing, selling could go high-tech. This particular incarnation of brain imaging has had some high-profile publicity and, despite the old adage, it is not all good. Consumer groups are enraged by the thought of multinationals trying to sneak inside our heads in search of the 鈥渂uy button鈥�. But researchers say that what they are finding is much more subtle and could actually lead to more ethical ways of selling. Is this simply the latest gimmick in the corporate world鈥檚 attempt to drum up business or the beginning of a new era for consumerism? (鈥淭hey know what you want鈥�).
If all this seems like an infringement on your free will and right to privacy, you ain鈥檛 seen nothing yet. Brain imaging could also be used to reveal your inner secrets. Studies have already put the spotlight on such things as racial prejudice, deception, sexual fantasy and personality. Though researchers urge caution there is little doubt that it is only a matter of time before the technology moves out of the lab and into the courtrooms, our workplaces and our everyday lives. It is an ethical minefield: will people be forced to undergo scanning, will the results raise insurance premiums, affect their job prospects, or determine whether or not they go to jail? Whatever the future of brain scanning, we need to think about these things now. (鈥淧rivate thoughts, public property鈥�).
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