Brain Scans may Help Nab Benefit Cheats

The study concludes that brain scans cannot identify would-be murderers, and there is no gene that will inevitably turn a person into a violent psychopath.

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However, the report does accept that neuroimaging and genetics may one day contribute to risk assessments in sentencing and probation decisions.

Working group chairman Professor Nicholas Mackintosh, from Cambridge University, said that scientists were already close to being able to tell if a person is really feeling pain or just faking. Brain scans may soon reveal the neural pathways that provide a 'signature' of subjective pain.

Such a test would open the door to identifying benefit cheats or fraudulent personal injury claims.

A team at Oxford University led by Professor Irene Tracey believes this could be achievable within 10 years.

"She envisages that it will be possible to distinguish between someone who is genuinely in pain and someone who is malingering. It could provide evidence that tilts the balance of probability in such cases," Prof Mackintosh said.

Source: ANI