In terms of detecting deception, a good possibility exists that brain imaging would be superior to polygraphs or drugs. According to Green, "It is hoped that Imaging together with other monitoring, such as eye-scanning, facial scanning, and so on...that the results would be more accurate, non-invasive to the person, remote, and faster for screening purposes."

Laypersons familiar with sometimes oversimplified news stories or pseudoscientific information in fiction may have misunderstanding of the current capabilities in cognitive neuroscience. Green told DOTmed about the most misleading information: "By far, it is the lay writer statements that functional brain imaging today 'reads minds.' It does nothing of the sort. It does show connections between parts of the brain anatomically, and can show what circuits are active in transmitting sensory and cognitive data between various centers of the brain. Some experiments show what parts of the brain are active during simple aspects of thought processes...but 'cognition' implies a cause and effect and reasoning over many seconds, if not more. Brain imaging as yet does not do this. In twenty years, perhaps. Our Committee was evenly divided on that as being possible."


However, there are aspects of brain imaging that should be encouraging to the public. "From brain imaging studies we will be able to learn what parts of the brain are chemically injured in Alzheimer's and other neurodegenerative disease, and how they can be cured," Green says.

Other key findings in the NRC Report include the fact that research enhances understanding of how culture affects human cognition, "including brain functioning, and is even suggesting a link between culture and brain development." The report goes on to say, "The U.S. military is placing greater emphasis on cultural awareness training and education as a critical element in its strategy for engaging in current and future conflicts. Military conflicts will increasingly involve prolonged interaction with civilian populations in which cultural awareness will be a matter of life and death and a major factor in outcomes. Similarly, political leaders, diplomats, intelligence officers, corporate executives, and academicians will need a deeper, more sophisticated understanding of foreign cultures to communicate more effectively with their counterparts in non-Western societies in the era of globalization."

The Report recommends that training programs be developed and implemented on a multidisciplinary basis, particularly in neuroscience research in the effects of culture on human cognition, and with special attention to the relationship between culture and brain development.

More Industry Headlines