The Predictive Powers of Brain Imaging

It turns out that non-invasive brain imaging, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging, may not just reveal secrets of our inner mind, but have predictive powers as well, according to a new study.

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge reviewed a series of past studies, which all suggests that brain scans can help predict an individual's future learning, criminality, health-related behaviors, and response to drug or behavioral treatments.

More specifically, this breakthrough technology can predict infants' later performance in reading, students' later performance in math, criminals' likelihood of becoming repeat offenders, adolescents' future drug and alcohol use, and addicts' likelihood of relapse. Described in the journal Neuron, researchers hope this information can be used to personalize educational and clinical practices to stop negative behaviors before they happen.

"Presently, we often wait for failure, in school or in mental health, to prompt attempts to help, but by then a lot of harm has occurred," MIT researcher Dr. John Gabrieli said in a press release. "If we can use neuroimaging to identify individuals at high risk for future failure, we may be able to help those individuals avoid such failure altogether."

Though, Gabrieli and his colleagues are quick to point out that certain ethical problems come to mind should they use brain can to "predict the future."

"We will need to make sure that knowledge of future behavior is used to personalize educational and medical practices, and not be used to limit support for individuals at higher risk of failure," Gabrieli explained. "For example, rather than simply identifying individuals to be more or less likely to succeed in a program of education, such information could be used to promote differentiated education for those less likely to succeed with the standard education program."

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