Face Recognition

Posted on August 22, 2008 by Tim Titolo

Research out of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston reveals evidence of a face recognition area in the brain.

Functional MRI (fMRI) can observe three dimensional volume that cotains about 200,000 neurons.  Using fMRI at higher resolution allows researchers to zoom in on smaller bits of the visual cortex; Similar to looking at grains of sugar rather than a whole sugar cube.

Now, researchers have identified two pea sized areas of the brain they believe are responsible for face recognition.  It is called "fusiform face area" (FFA) because it resembles a spindle or "fusus" in latin.  It helps explain why we are so good at remembering faces which in turn, makes us us able to make snap judgments about gender, age, mood, expression, intent, attractiveness, and honesty.  This ability enables social interaction and was probably critical in the survival of our primate ancestors.

FFA images may assist our understanding on propopagnosia, an impairtment in the recognition of faces known as face blindness.

The study of brain circuits may help treat autism and depression.

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Ethical Questions Raised in Brain Mapping Research

Posted on July 2, 2008 by Tim Titolo

During my law school experience in the mid 1980s I was chosen to participate in a nationwide, seminar called "Right to Die."  This was an interdisciplinary exercise of law, medicine, nursing, theology and others.  All of us were students in out respective fields brought together to consider whether an individual should or can possess the right to die with dignity.

In cases of undeniably fatal illness, can someone decide to end their life?  Over 30 students from around the country met in San Francisco, paid for entirely with grant money, to participate.  The notion and experience never left me.

In now appears that science can read desires of comatose patients with functional MRI.  The ethical dilemma again comes to mind.  Here are some excerpts from a recent article.

A British researcher claims that he has devised a way to communicate with people who, though can't move their limbs, are consciously aware.

While making a presentation at the Organisation for Human Brain Mapping Conference, Dr. Martin Monti of the Medical Research Council's Cognition and Brain Science Unit in Cambridge said that his work might have implications for the medical diagnosis of people in a vegetative state, and for determining whether to discontinue feeding.

Dr. Monti said that the study had a 100 per cent success rate in determining the right answer.

He said that the research might help, in the long term, reconnect patients with their families.

It might also be helpful in providing a solution to legal battles over whether to discontinue feeding a patient.

"There will be a lot of ramifications from this technology. The medical system needs to understand how to use it and at some point we have to look at the ethical and legal ramifications," he said.

"If you had a patient (in a coma-like state) who you could reliably see they do not want to live, how would you react to that?" he added.

Published by HT Syndication with permission from Asian News International.

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