Brain fingerprinting is a scientific technique that uses electroencephalography (EEG) to detect whether specific information is stored in a person's brain. It measures brain wave responses when presented with probes, targets, and irrelevant stimuli related to a crime. The technique was invented by Lawrence Farwell and is based on detecting a brain response called MERMER when a person recognizes known information. It has four phases and has been admitted as evidence in courts. Brain fingerprinting can help identify criminals, terrorists, and exonerate innocent suspects by detecting if crime-related information is present or absent from their brains.

3. BRAIN
FINGERPRINTING
TINA TREESIUS A
S7 T
ROLL NO: 46

4. What is Brain Fingerprinting?
Scientific technique to determine
whether or not specific information is
stored in an individual's brain
Relevant words, pictures or sounds
are presented to a subject by a
computer in a series with stimuli
The brainwave responses measured
using a patented headband equipped
with EEG sensors

5. Why is it named so?

6. INVENTION
• By Lawrence Farwell
• Based on electrical
signal, MERMER
• Farwell's brain
fingerprinting originally
used the well-
known P300 brain
response to detect the
brain's recognition of
the known information

7. Phases of Brain Fingerprinting
Crime Scene Evidence Collection
Brain Evidence collection
Computer Evidence Analysis
Scientific Result

8. EEG
P-300
MERMER
BRAIN
FINGERPRINTING

9. • Farwell discovered the P300-MERMER
("Memory and Encoding Related Multifaceted
Electroencephalographic Response")
• A MERMER is an electrical signal which is
part of the brainwave observed in response to
familiar information..
• When the brain recognizes something, then
there is increase in neurons activity, so elicit
some changes in brain wave signals .

10. Types of stimuli used
 Probes
 Life-experience related
 Relevant to the investigated event -recognizable and
noteworthy only for the subjects who had participated in the
event (MERMER)
 Indistinguishable from the Irrelevants for a subject who is
not knowledgeable about the situation under investigation
 Targets
 Push a button to indicate known image
 Since the relatively rare Targets are singled out in the task
being performed, the Targets are noteworthy for the subject,
and each Target stimulus elicits a MERMER
 Irrelevant Stimuli
 information relevant to the crime that the suspect claims to
have no knowledge of

12. EEG
Electroencephalography Or Electrocorticogram
Recording of the electrical activity of the brain
from the scalp.
The first recordings were made by Hans
Berger in 1929

13. Picture or
word shown
to an
individual
•Triggers neurons of
brains
Generates
brain wave
P-300
Electric
potentials
accumulates
•Head gear fitted with electrodes on
scalp
MERMER
measured
EEG
Amplifier
Found
Guilty/ Not
guilty
Generates analog
signal
Study the data using
computer program

14. BRAIN WAVES
suspect expected to know
irrelevant stimuli
crime information

15. The Following figure shows the RED and BLUE lines are
closely correlated.
This indicates the suspect or the criminal has the knowledge of
the CRIME.
Information is absent Information is present

16. GENERATION OF EEG SIGNALS

17. REQUIREMENTS
• EEG machine (8/16
channels).
• Silver cup
electrodes/metallic
bridge electrodes.
• Electrode jelly.
• Rubber cap.
• Quiet dark comfortable
room.
• Skin pencil &
measuring tape.

18. EEG ELECTRODES

19. • Each electrode site is labeled with a letter
and a number.
• The letter refers to the area of brain
underlying the electrode
• e.g. F - Frontal lobe and T - Temporal
lobe.
• Even numbers denote the right side of
the head and
• Odd numbers the left side of the head.
EEG ELECTRODES

20. EEG RECORDING
Ask the
subject to
close his/her
eyes.
Select a
montage
Different sets of
electrode arrangement
on the scalp by 10 – 20
system is known as
montage.
21 electrodes are
attached to give 8
or 16 channels
recording.
Press the
calibration knob
to check
voltages & time
constant.
Always observe
subject for any
abnormal muscle
activity.
Ask the subject to
open eyes for 10
sec.and ask him/her
to close eyes
Do this procedure
for several times in
each montage

21. ANALYSIS OF EEG
• Electrical activity from the brain consist of
primarily of rhythms.
• They are named according to their frequencies
(Hz) and amplitude in micro volt (μv).
• Different rhythms at different ages and
different conditions (level of consciousness)
• Usually one dominant frequency
(background rhythm)

22. VIDEO MONITORING
Simultaneous video monitoring of the patient during the EEG recording is
becoming more popular. It allows the physician to closely correlate EEG
waveforms with the patients activity and may help produce a more
accurate diagnosis.

23. EVENT RELATED POTENTIALS(ERP)
• Triggered by particular stimuli- called evoked
potentials
• Visual, auditory or somatosensory
• Early ERPs of latency below 10–12 ms (far fields)
• Late ERPs – endogenous and exogenous
components
• P300 – Memory representations are updated
• ERPs caused by continuous stimuli – analyzed in
frequency domain
• Desynchronization in EEG, during the movement
• Increased activity in high frequencies
• Visible in EEG

24. EEG ANALYSIS
 Visual inspection of signals
 Statistical properties can be evaluated by typical methods
based on the theory of stochastic signals
 Analyzed in the time or frequency domain, and one or
several channels can be analyzed at a time
 Spectral analysis by Fourier Transform (FT),
autoregressive (AR) or autoregressive-moving average
(ARMA) parametric models, Kalman filters, and time-
frequency and time-scale methods
 Post processing include cluster analysis, discriminant
analysis, or artificial neural networks (ANN).
 Estimation of power spectra using Fast Fourier
Transform

25.  AR model represents a filter with a white noise at the input
and the EEG series at the output
 Interdependence between two EEG signals can be found
by a cross-correlation function
 The cross covariance functions have been extensively used
in the analysis of event-related potentials for the study of
the electrophysiological correlates of cognitive functions
 Wavelet transform (WT) describes signals in terms of
coefficients representing their energy content in specified
time-frequency region
 ANN are constructed from artificial neurons (or units),
which produce the output depending on the sum of
weighted inputs from other units
EEG ANALYSIS

26. CURRENT USES AND
APPLICATIONS
 Test for several forms of employment, especially in dealing
with sensitive military and foreign intelligence screening
 Individuals who were ‘information present’ and
‘information absent’
 A group of 17FBI agents and4 non-agents were exposed to
stimuli
 To detect symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, Mental
depression and other forms of dementia including
neurological disorders
 Criminal cases and counter-terrorism
 Advertisements
 Security testing

27. APPLICATIONS
Criminal justice
The key difference between a guilty party and
an innocent suspect is that the perpetrator of the
crime has a record of the crime stored in their brain,
and the innocent suspect does not. Until the
invention of brain fingerprinting testing, there was
no scientifically valid way to detect this fundamental
difference

28. Counter terrorism
 Aid in determining who has participated in terrorist
acts, directly or indirectly
Aid in identifying trained terrorists with the potential to
commit future terrorist acts, even if they are in a
“sleeper” cell and have not been active for years.
Help to identify people who have knowledge or training
in banking, finance or communications and who are
associated with terrorist teams and acts
Help to determine if an individual is in a leadership role
within a terrorist organization.
APPLICATIONS

29. Medical field
 Research has now demonstrated that analysis
of the P300 brainwave can show dementia onset and
progression. Mermer technology, developed and
patented by Brain Fingerprinting Laboratories,
includes the P300 and extends it, providing a more
sensitive measure than the P300 alone.
With early diagnosis, the progression of Alzheimer’s
symptoms can often be delayed through medications
and dietary and lifestyle changes.
APPLICATIONS

30. Advertising applications
What specific information do people retain from
advertising?
What specific elements in an ad campaign have the most
impact?
Which type of media is most effective?
What commercial is the most effective for a single
product?
How effective is the product branding strategy?
How effective is an ad campaign in different parts of the
world?
What is the correlation between the campaign and the point
of sale?
How do the effects of campaigns vary with the influence of
time?
APPLICATIONS

31. COMPARISON WITH OTHER
TECHNOLOGIES
• Conventional fingerprinting and DNA match
physical evidence from a crime scene with
evidence on the person of the perpetrator
• Brain fingerprinting matches informational
evidence from the crime scene with evidence
stored in the brain.
• Fingerprints and DNA are available in only 1%
of crimes. The brain is always there, planning,
executing, and recording the suspect's actions
• As with DNA and fingerprints, the results are
the same whether the person has lied or told the
truth at any time

32. ROLE OF BRAIN
FINGERPRINTING IN CRIMINAL
PROCEEDINGS
• Four phases
1. Investigation- by skilled investigator
2. Interview- by Investigator or scientist
3. Scientific testing- by scientist
4. Adjudication- by judge and jury

33. Admissibility In Courts
Brain fingerprinting has been thoroughly and
scientifically tested.
The theory and application of brain fingerprinting
have been subject to peer review and publication.
The rate of error is extremely low -- virtually
nonexistent -- and clear standards governing
scientific techniques of operation of the
technology have been established and published
The theory and practice of brain fingerprinting
have gained general acceptance in the relevant
scientific community.
Brain fingerprinting is non-invasive and non-
testimonial

34. ADVANTAGES
Identify criminals quickly and scientifically
Record of 100% accuracy
Identify terrorists and members of gangs,
criminal and intelligence organizations
Reduce expenditure of money and other
resources in Law enforcement
Reduce evasion of justice

35. LIMITATIONS
It does not detect how that information got there.
Detects only information, not intent
Where the suspect knows everything that the investigators can ask.
Authorities have no information about what crime may have taken place
General pre-employment or employee screening where in any number of
undesirable activities or intentions may be relevant.
Only detect information, not lies
Does not determine whether a suspect is guilty or not. Determined by
judge and jury
Limitations of human memory and factors affecting it.

36. Conclusion
• Brain fingerprinting is a revolutionary new
scientific technology for solving crimes,
identifying perpetrator and exonerating
innocent suspects.
• This technology fulfills an urgent need for
governments, law enforcements agencies,
corporations, investigators and crime victims.

37. References
1. Farwell LA (1992a). The brain-wave information detection (BID)
system: A new paradigm for psycho physiological detection of
information (unpublished doctoral dissertation). Urbana-
Champaign (IL): University of Illinois.
2. Farwell LA (1993). Brain MERMERs: Detection of FBI Agents and
crime-relevant information with the Farwell MERA system.
Proceedings of the International Security Systems Symposium,
Washington, D.C.
3. PBS Innovation Series (2004). Brain Fingerprinting May 4, 2004.
Brain Fingerprinting: Ask the Experts. Accessed July 20, 2008.
4. Simon S (2005). What you don't know can't hurt you. Law
Enforcement Technology, Sept., 2005.
5. Rosenfeld JP, Soskins M, Bosh G, Ryan A (2004). Simple, Effective
Counter measures to P300-based Tests of Detection of Concealed
Information. Psychophysiol., 41: 205–219.