basis (i.e.

, a basis outside the

ABSTRACT

realm of science) in reaching

Brain Fingerprinting

their conclusions regarding

is a new computer-based

the facts and the law of the

technology to identify the

case.

perpetrator

of

crime
Investigators'

accurately and scientifically

need

brain-wave

for accurate, scientific means

responses to crime-relevant

of linking perpetrators with

words or pictures presented

crime scene evidence has

on a computer screen. Brain

inspired some scientists to

Fingerprinting has proven

ask, "What does the criminal

100% accurate in over 120

always take with him from

tests, including tests on FBI

the crime scene that records

agents,

his

by

measuring

tests

for

US

involvement

in

the

intelligence agency and for

crime?" The answer to this

the US Navy, and tests on

question, of course, is the

real-life situations including

Brain. The purpose of this

felony crimes.

document is to delineate the

boundaries of the science of

Every science involves

Brain

Fingerprinting,

and

skill, judgment, or "art" on

specify what falls inside and

the part of its practitioners

outside those boundaries.

and the science of Brain

Fingerprinting testing is no

Index terms: - forensic

exception.

science, multifaceted

Every forensic

science provides scientific

electroencephalographic

data

response analysis, memory

and

scientific

conclusions for the use of

and encoding related

non-scientist

multifaceted

judges

and

electroencephalographic

juries, who evaluate these on

a common-sense and legal
1

response, criminal
investigation, brain waves.

Dr. Lawrence Farwell

INTRODUCTION

is the Chairman and Chief

Scientist

Forensic science is

at

Brain

constantly evolving, from

Fingerprinting Laboratories

the

in Seattle, Washington. He

discovery

of

the

uniqueness of the human

has

developed

new

fingerprint,to

computerized system known

a

as brain fingerprinting. It

criminal to his crime through

reads the memory centers of

DNA profiling; technology

the human brain. He believes

continues

that

the

ability

to

match

to

provide

Brain

Fingerprinting

new

will one day be used to

weapons. But fingerprint and

positively link perpetrators

DNA

to their crimes.

investigators

with

evidence

are

Brain Fingerprinting

discovered in the only one

percent of all cases. When

may

trusted

fail,

Polygraph (usually called a

investigators must turn to

Lie Detector), but it differs

cutting-edge technology to

in

bring invisible clues to light.

polygraph

techniques

seem

similar

important

to

ways.

measures

physiologic responses such

as

Every criminal leaves

heart

rate,

sweating,

evidence behind. The key is

breathing,

and

to know how to find it. A

processes

new technique is testing a

indirectly related to brain

way of tapping the suspects

function.

mind, to turn the criminal's

Fingerprinting

own memory against him.

comes directly from brain

that

other
are

only
Brain

information

function. It and other related

tests

do

not

measure

truthfulness

but

determine

whether

subject

has

seek

to

Brain Fingerprinting

the

seeks to reveal that memory,

particular

by

memory.

showing

the

suspect

evidence taken from the

crime scene. A head band

SCIENCE

OF

BRAIN

with sensors is placed on the

FINGERPRINTING

subject.A series of pictures

or words is flashed on the

When

someone

screen.

commits a crime, his brain

records

records

produced in response to what

(i.e.)

it

has

memory.

the

The
the

computer
brain

subject

waves
sees.The

responses are recorded as a

wave form.

By

analyzing

the

pattern of waves, Farwell

can determine if the subject
is recognizing what he is
seeing. So when you have a
situation where a crime has
been committed, and there
are certain details only the
suspect with know, then we
can test: does this brain have

these details stored in it? If

so,

then

the

In his research on

suspect

the

P300

response,

Dr.

committed the crime. If not,

Farwell discovered that the

then not.

P300 was one aspect of a

larger brain-wave response

BRAIN

that he named a MERMER

FINGERPRINTING

(memory

DETECTS

related

INFORMATION

electroencephalo-graphic

Brain Fingerprinting detects

and

encoding
multifaceted

response).

MERMER

information stored in the

comprises a P300 response,

human brain. Sensors on a

occurring 300 to 800 ms

headband,

after

register

the

the

stimulus,

and

subject's EEG, or brain wave

additional patterns occurring

responses to the computer

more than 800 ms after the

images. The EEG is fed

stimulus,

through an amplifier and into

more accurate results.

Mera

computer

proprietary

that
software

uses
to

providing

Using

even

multifaceted

display and interpret the

electroencephalographic

brain

response analysis (MERA),

waves. A

electrical

specific,

brain

wave

shows

that

specific

response, known as a P300,

multifaceted

is emitted by the brain within

electroencephalographic

a fraction of a second when

response (MER), known as a

an individual recognizes and

memory

processes

related

an

incoming

and

encoding
multifaceted

stimulus that is significant or

electroencephalographic

noteworthy.

response

When

an

(MERMER),

irrelevant stimulus is seen, it

elicited

is seen as being insignificant

recognizes and processes a

and not noteworthy and a

stimulus that is particularly

P300 is not emitted.

noteworthy to him/her.

when

is

person

The MERMER includes: the

P300, an electrically positive
component maximal at the
parietal scalp site, longer
latency, electrically negative
subcomponent prominent at
the frontal scalp site, and
Phasic

changes

in

the

frequency and structure of

the signal.
Computer Controlled

Information not present

The

entire

Fingerprinting
under

Brain
system

computer

is

control,

including presentation of the

stimuli,

recording

of

electrical brain activity, a

mathematical data analysis
algorithm that compares the
responses to the three types
of stimuli (Target, Irrelevant,

Information present

Probe),

and

produces

determination
"information

a
of

present"

or

"information absent," and a

statistical confidence level

investigation. These relevant

for this determination.

stimuli are referred to as

Probes. For a subject who
has

participated

in

the

SCIENTIFIC

situation in question, the

PROCEDURE

Probes are noteworthy due to

Three

types

of

the subject's knowledge of

presented:

that situation, and, therefore,

stimuli

are

Targets,

Irrelevant,

Probes.

The Targets are

when

made

relevant

knowledgeable.

and

Probes elicit a MERMER

and

the

subject

is

Probes are

noteworthy to all subjects,

indistinguishable from the

i.e., the subject is given a list

Irrelevant for a subject who

of the Target stimuli and

is not knowledgeable about

instructed

the

to

press

situation

under

particular button in response

investigation,

to Targets and another button

Probes

in response to all other

MERMER if the subject is

stimuli. Since the relatively

not knowledgeable.

do

and
not

thus

elicit

rare Targets are singled out

in the task being performed,

Scalp recording was done

the Targets are noteworthy

with

for the subject, and each

electrodes, similar to those

Target

used

stimulus

elicits

disposable
in

EEG

standard

EEG

MERMER.

Most of the

recording.

non-Target

stimuli

were embedded in a special

are

The electrodes

irrelevant, having no relation

headband

to

constructed by Dr. Farwell's

the

situation

investigation.

under
This

Human

Irrelevant do not elicit a

designed
Brain

Research

Laboratory.

MERMER.
Some of the non-

SCIENTIFIC

Target stimuli are relevant to

the

situation

EXPERIMENTS:

under
6

and

can be made. I estimate that

1 Harringtons Case

up to 70% of major crimes

In April 2000, Dr.

Lawrence Farwell conducted

would

a Brain Fingerprinting test

appropriate

for

on

Brain

Fingerprinting

Harrington.

Brain

responses

[1] Helps to Catch a

did not match the crime

Serial Killer

scene and did match his

Farwell.

to

The

Fingerprinting

Macon

Dr.

engaged

Missouri
Daws

on

Farwell

to

Brain

fingerprinting test on J. B.

Harringtons

Grinder, who had been a

claim of innocence in over 2

Dr.

Dr.

conduct

were the first new evidence

County,

Sheriff Robert

Brain

test results

supporting

applying

APPLICATIONS:

stored in Harringtons brain

according

be

technology.

showed

conclusively that the record

alibi,

someday

suspect

Richardsons

in

an

unsolved

murder case for 15 years.

Comment

The test results showed that

Drew

Richardson,

the record stored in his brain

PhD a senior agent of the

matched critical details of

FBI and a scientist in the

the crime scene that only the

FBI Laboratories

perpetrator

for 26

would

know.

years says "I was assigned to

Faced with an almost certain

collaborate with Dr. Farwell

conviction and a probable

in the research, design and

death sentence, Grinder pled

laboratory

guilty in exchange for life in

Brain

prison without the possibility

research

testing
study

of

on

Fingerprinting technology. In

parole.

our study, indeed in all the

confessed to the previously

studies

unsolved murders of three

to

Fingerprinting

date,
testing

Brain
has

He

then

also

other women.

proved to be 100% accurate,

[2 ]National Security

wherever

Applications

determination

In a terrorist act, evidence

[1]

such as fingerprints or DNA

detects

may not be available, but the

processing brain responses

brain of the perpetrator is

that reveal what information

always there planning,

is stored in the subjects

executing, and recording the

brain. It does not detect how

crime. There are memories

that information got there.

of the crime stored in the

[2] If, however, the suspect

brain of the perpetrator and

knows everything that the

in the brains of those who

investigators know about the

helped plan the crime. Brain

crime for some legitimate

Fingerprinting Laboratories

reason, then the test cannot

technology can detect these

be applied.

Brain

fingerprinting
information-

records stored in the brain

and help identify trained

[3] Another situation where

terrorists before they strike,

brain fingerprinting is not

including those that are in

applicable is one where the

long-term

authorities have no

sleeper

cells.

The technology will also be

information about what

used to improve security in

crime may have taken place.

areas like VISA applications

For example, an individual

and the protection of

may disappear under

classified information

circumstances where a

[3]ALZHEIMERS

specific suspect had a strong

DISEASE:

motive to murder the

Brain fingerprinting can be

individual.

used to identify persons

suffering from Alzheimers
disease

where

suffers

from

loss

RESULT

person

There are many

of

different ways to present

memory.

Limitations

MERMER brain response

of

data

Brainfingerprinting:

visually.

Different

methods illustrate different

features of the data. No one

voltage deflection maximal

method

adequately

at approximately 1200 -

capture all of the information

1500 msec. (The latency of

incorporated in the data in a

these

visually recognizable form.

according to the speed of the

One method that is often

individual

effective

processing.)

can

in

providing

deflections

varies

subjects'

brain

visual representation of the

differences

in

brain

The brain responses

responses involves plotting

of two subjects whose data

average responses to Probe,

are presented here are typical

Target, and Irrelevant stimuli

of their respective groups,

as voltage over time at a

knowledgeable

and

specific scalp location.

knowledgeable.

As can be

Figures

and

not

clearly seen in the figures,

present the average brain

for

responses to Probe, Target,

subjects

and Irrelevant stimuli for

MERMER

two of the subjects. Figure 1

response to both Targets and

presents data for a subject

Probes.

who

knowledgeable

who were not knowledgeable

regarding the investigated

(Figure 2), the MERMER is

event. Figure 2 presents data

elicited only in response to

for a subject who is not

Targets.

is

knowledgeable regarding the

investigated event.
These figures present
plots of voltage over time at
the

parietal

location.

(Pz)

scalp

In these figures,

the MERMER appears as a

positive

voltage

peak

approximately

500

followed

by

at

msec

negative
9

the

knowledgeable
(Figure
is

1)

elicited

the
in

For the subjects

from previous research using

brain MERMER testing.
(Figure1)

Todays sophisticated

Information Present

crime

Brain Response

scene

analysis

techniques can sometimes

place the perpetrator at the
scene of the crime; however,
physical evidence is not
always present. Knowledge
of numerous details of the
crime, such as the murder
weapon, the specific position
of the body, the amount of
money

stolen

--

any

information not available to

(Figure 2) Information

the public -- may reveal that

Absent Brain Response

a particular individual is
associated with the crime.
Additionally,
research

if

determines

that

brain MERMER testing is

reliable enough that it could
be introduced as evidence in
court; it may be the criminal
investigative

tool

of

the

future.
CONCLUSION

REFERENCES

The 100-percent accuracy

and high confidence level of

[1] Farwell LA, Donchin

the results, however, provide

E. The brain detector:

further support for results

P300 in the detection of

deception.

10

Psychophysiology 1986;
24:434
[2] Farwell LA, inventor.
Method and apparatus
for

multifaceted

electroencephalographic
response
(MERA).

analysis
US

patent

5,363,858. 1994 Nov 15

[3] Farwell LA, inventor.
Method and apparatus
for truth detection. US
patent 5,406,956. 1995
Apr 18

11