Discuss Haier and his associates' experiment on brain efficiency and Daniel Langleben's research on the detection of lying, including a description of the brain technique each used

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Answer will include that Haier used positron emission tomography, a PET scan, in his experiment. A PET scan detects positrons emitted by weakly radioactive glucose (sugar) as it is consumed by the brain. Since the brain runs on glucose, a PET scan shows which areas are using more energy. Higher energy use corresponds with higher activity. Using PET scans, Haier and his associates found that the brains of people who perform well on a difficult reasoning test consume less energy than those of poor performers. Haier concludes from his findings that intelligence is related to brain efficiency. Less efficient brains have to work harder and still accomplish less than the more intelligent, more efficient brains that require less energy to accomplish the same task. Psychiatrist Daniel Langleben and his colleagues used functional MRI (fMRI) imaging to tell if a person was lying. The fMRI uses MRI technology to show a three-dimensional view of the brain while also making brain activity visible. In these brain scans, they found that the front of the brain was more active when a person was lying rather than telling the truth. They theorized that this occurred because it takes extra effort to lie, and the resulting extra brain activity is detected by the fMRI. Eventually, fMRI may help researchers to distinguish between lies, false statements made with intention to deceive, and confabulations, which are false claims believed to be true.