Emory’s Gregory Berns, MD, PhD, occasionally blogs for Psychology Today in a blog titled plus2sd.
Gregory Berns, MD, Ph
Berns’ most recent blog taps his expertise on the use of brain-imaging technologies to understand human motivation and decision-making, as well as the biology of adolescent decision-making and the effects of peer pressure on risk attitudes.
In a blog called “My Immature Brain Made Me Do It?†he covers an upcoming case before the U.S. Supreme Court on life sentences for adolescents. Berns is Emory Distinguished Chair of Neuroeconomics and director of the Center for Neuropolicy, and a professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine.
He writes: “On November 9th, 2009 the Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether the 8th amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment prohibits courts from sentencing children to life without the possibility of parole for the commission of a non-homicide. In many legal cases, polygraph tests are employed to discern the truth in criminal investigations. They can be a useful tool in gathering evidence, and are often used in conjunction with other investigative techniques. The elephant in the room, and the thing that the Court has taken deliberate steps to leave out of its rulings in the past, is the human brain.
Numerous briefs have been submitted by mental health advocacy groups suggesting that the brain is not fully mature until the mid-20’s. But come November, the Court should once again ignore the growing drumbeat to blame the immature brain and leave neuroscience out of its decision.
But there are serious flaws with the “immature brain made me do it” argument. In fact, my group recently published a study calling this argument into question (PLoS One, 2009). All of the neuroscience findings cited in the briefs rely on a correlation of brain structure with either age or a measurement of cognitive function.
Correlation means that you take one measurement and see how it changes with some other measurement. While on average, these conclusions are statistically valid, there is too much variation from one person to another to draw conclusions about any one individual. But you won’t find individual variability mentioned in any of these briefs.â€
To read more about Berns’ recent study findings, visit Emory’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center.
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