Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Brain fingerprinting is a scientific technique for detecting concealed information stored in

the brain by measuring brainwaves. The author, forensic neuroscientist Lawrence A. Farwell,
Ph.D. Invented brain fingerprinting in the early 1980s (Farwell and Dunchin, 1986, 1991), and
later patented it. The author has conducted research and applications of brain fingerprinting at the
CIA, the FBI, the US Navy, and elsewhere. He has successfully used brain fingerprinting in the
real world in investigating major crimes. Brain fingerprinting, and the author ‘s expert testimony
on it, have been ruled admissible in court. This article will focus on the major misinformation
contained in the Rosenfeld (2005) article and Rosenfeld ‘s related false claims and false statements
in other forums. Correcting all of the misinformation in the Rosenfeld article, or responding to his
many unsupported subjective opinions, would require an excessively long article. We shall focus
on Rosenfeld ‘s most salient misstatements of fact. Unlike the Rosenfeld article, this article will
not make unsupported subjective judgments, express unsupported opinions, or ascribe motives or
thoughts to anyone. The focus of this article will be to state the independently verifiable facts,
provide the necessary references to verify them, and allow the reader to reach his or her own
judgments and conclusions.
1.1 OVERVIEW: Brain fingerprinting is designed to determine whether an individual recognizes
specific information related to an event or activity by measuring electric brain wave responses to
words, phrases, or pictures on a computer screen. Fingerprinting measures electrical brain activity
via a fitted headband containing special sensors. The person to be tested wears a headband with
electronic sensors that measure the electroencephalography from several locations. Brain
fingerprinting was so named because like fingerprinting it detects a match between evidence from
the crime scene and evidence on the person of the suspect.
Rosenfeld conducted laboratory research similar to the brain fingerprinting methods
invented and published by Farwell, but failed to follow many of the brain fingerprinting scientific
standards that Farwell established and upheld in his research. Rosenfeld published results
demonstrating that his own alternative techniques have inconsistent accuracy rates, in some cases
no better than chance, and overall are far less than the accuracy of brain fingerprinting. Rosenfeld
falsely stated to the news media that the proven inaccuracy of his own alternative techniques
showed that Farwell‘s brain fingerprinting technique was also inaccurate. After publishing his
statements and later checking the facts, the news outlets recognized that Rosenfeld‘s statements
were false and published corrections.

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After publishing his statements and later checking the facts, the news outlets recognized that
Rosenfeld ‘s statements were false and published corrections. Rosenfeld later repeated the same
and similar false statements about Farwell and brain fingerprinting in SRMHP.

1.2: TECHNIQUE:
In the same article in SMRHP, Rosenfeld falsely attributed to Farwell statements that were in fact
made by news reporters and clearly so attributed, and then falsely criticized Farwell for making
statements he did not make. Rosenfeld used the credibility given by publication in SRMHP to his
false statements about Farwell and brain fingerprinting as support for subsequent repetitions of the
same false statements in other publications and in the news media. Rosenfeld made false
qualitative claims about the purported value of his techniques in real-world situations. His claims
are entirely unsupported by any scientific research or real-world experience. He claimed that his
technique could be effectively applied to a terrorist suspect in custody, ‖ whereas in fact no research
has been completed on applying his technique in any real-life or field application of any kind, and
the accuracy of his technique even in the laboratory has in some studies been no better than chance.
Rosenfeld made specific false quantitative claims about the accuracy his techniques would achieve
when applied in the real world, claims that are directly contradicted by the evidence from his own
laboratory.

Figure: 1.1

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 Chapter 2
EXISTING SYSTEM

2.1 EARLY P300-BASED DECEPTION DETECTORS:

Fabiani, Karis, and Donchin, (1983) showed that if a list of words, consisting of
rare,previously learned (i.e., meaningful) and frequent novel words were presented one at a timeto
a subject, the familiar, previously learned words but not the others elicited a P300. Assuggested
above, Rosenfeld, Nasman, Whalen, Cantwell, Mazzeri (1987) recognized that theFabiani et a.
(1983) study suggested that P300 could be used to detect concealed guiltyknowledge, i.e., P300
could be used as a potential lie detector: Therefore, P300 could index recognition of familiar items
even if subjects denied recognizing them. From this fact, one could infer deception. The P300
would not represent a lie per se, but only recognition of afamiliar item of information, the verbal
denial of which would then imply deception. Farwell has also emphasized this distinction on his
web site, although as an academic nicety which inno way affects the claims of the BF approach.
Farwell and Smith (2001).
However, seem tohave over-extended this distinction: “Brain MERMER testing has
almost nothing in commonwith ‘lie detection’ or polygraphy. Polygraphy is a technique of
interrogation and detection of deception Brain MERMER testing does not require any questions
of or answers from thesuspect. The subject neither lies nor tells the truth during the procedure, and
in fact the resultsof MERMER testing are exactly the same whether the subject lies or tells the
truth at anytime.” This assertion is misleading: In fact the subject does give behavioral button
pressresponses. One button means “No, I don’t recognize this stimulus.” If the guilty
subjectpresses this no button to a guilty knowledge item, he is lying with his button press, if not
hisvoice. Lying is the clear inference if there is no other innocuous explanation for the
brainresponse, and there is no doubt that P300/MERMER testing is clearly relevant to lie detection.
Indeed, the terms “Interrogative polygraphy” and “lie detection” are in the subtitleof Farwell and
Donchin (1991), Farwell’s only peer-reviewed paper on P300-based deceptiondetection in a
psychology, neuroscience or psychophysiology journal. Finally, when Farwelland Smith (2001;
not a journal in psychology, psychophysiology, or neuroscience) stated, “infact the results of
MERMER testing are exactly the same whether the subject lies or tells thetruth,” they are incorrect
(about the major P300 element of MERMER), and, not surprisingly,did not cite any supportive
literature. In fact, there are many peer-reviewed, published studiesin which the opposite is shown,
and it is discussed why truthful subjects in fact produce muchlarger P300s than subjects giving
dishonest responses to the same questions (e.g., Ellwanger,J. Rosenfeld, , Hankin, & Sweet, 1999;
Miller, A.R., Rosenfeld, J.P., Soskins, M., Jhee, M.2000; Rosenfeld, Rao, Soskins, & Miller,
2003,). Soon after seeing Fabiani et al. (1983),

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 our lab planned and executed a study (Rosenfeld, Cantwell, Nasman, Wojdak, Ivanov, &Mazzeri,
1988) in which subjects pretended to steal one of ten items from a box. Later, theitems were
repeatedly presented to the subject by name, one at a time, on a display screen,and we found that
the items the subjects pretended to steal (the probes), but not the other, irrelevant items, evoked
P300 in 9 of 10 cases. In that study there was also one special,unpredictably presented stimulus
item, the target, to which the subjects were required torespond by saying “yes” so as to assure us
they were paying attention to the screen at alltimes, and would thus not miss probe presentations.
They said “no” to all the other items,signaling non-recognition, and thus lying on trials containing
the pretended stolen items. Thespecial target items also evoked P300, as one might expect, since
they too were rare andmeaningful (task-relevant). (The 1988 study was actually the second of two
closely relatedpublications, the first having been published as Rosenfeld . et al., 1987.) This
paradigm hadmany features of the guilty knowledge test (GKT) paradigm (developed by Lykken
in 1959;see Lykken, 1998) except that P300s rather than autonomic variables were used as the
indicesof recognition. This required various other departures from the classic GKT method, such
assignal averaging and target stimuli. Farwell and Donchin (1991) reported that in the 20
guiltycases, correct decisions were possible in all but two cases, a detection rate of 90%.
Indeed,this was not impressive given that the subjects were trained to remember the details of
theircrimes, a procedure having limited ecological validity in field circumstances in whichtraining
of a suspect on details of a crime he/she was denying would not be possible. In theinnocent
condition, only 85% were correctly classified, yielding an overall detection rate of 87.5%. In the
second experiment of Farwell and Donchin, (1991), the four volunteeringsubjects were all
previously admitted wrongdoers on the college campus. Their crime detailswere well-detected
with P300, but these previously admitted wrongdoers no doubt had hadmuch rehearsal of their
crimes at the hands of campus investigators, teachers, parents, etc.Therefore, one can ask: was the
P300 test detecting incidentally acquired information versuspreviously admitted, well rehearsed
information. Moreover, the n=4 was hardly convincing,and in one of the four innocent tests, no
decision could be rendered, meaning that a correctdecision was possible in only three of four (75%)
innocent cases.

2.2 THE ACCURACY ISSUE:

Regarding P300-based GKT studies from independent laboratories, how does the
BFmethod fare? Our lab has typically reported 80-95% detection (see Rosenfeld, Soskins, Bosh,&
Ryan, 2004; Rosenfeld, 2002). Our higher detection rates tend to accompany detection of
autobiographical knowledge in head injury malingering studies. Our lower rates tend toaccompany
detection of incidental knowledge as in Rosenfeld et al., (2004).

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 Apart from these lab analogues, there has been only oneindependent field study of P300-
based detection of guilty knowledge, that by Miyake,Y.,Mizutanti, M., and Yamahura, T. (1993).
This study, under the auspices of a Japanese policedepartment, reported only 48% detection of
guilty subjects. One can surmise what Farwell’sresponses to these challenging data would be,
based on the fact that he was actuallyconfronted with the Miyake et al. (1993) report at the
Harrington 2000 hearing. He stated thatthese findings were not relevant since Miyake et al.
recorded from Cz rather than Pz: “Theyrecorded from Cz, so I don’t know what they were
measuring it appears they were doingsomething that was in no way related to what we did.” This
statement seems erroneous andmisleading in that Miyake et al. were indeed conducting related
research as they actuallycited Farwell and Donchin, (1991) as the basis of their effort. Moreover,
had there been aP300 expert present, he/she could have retorted that P300s from Cz and Pz usually
correlateat >.95 over trials, and that indeed, no less a P300 expert than Polich (1999)
recommendedthe use of Cz in diagnostic clinical P300 studies. Farwell might also respond more
technicallythat the EEG filters used by other investigators are not the Optimal Digital Filters he
used inFarwell and Donchin (1991), and claimed to be superior to the filters most others
use(Farwell, Martineri, Bashore, Rapp, & Goddard, 1993.) The filters discussed here are
circuitelements or software models of circuit elements through which raw EEG signals are
passed.Their purpose is to remove artifactual and other sources of noise in the brain wave
signal.The present author, not an electrical engineer, had always sensed a problem with the
Farwellet al. (1993) paper. In preparing the present review, I consulted two P300 experts (one
anengineer), plus one of Farwell’s co-authors on the 1993 paper about this serious problem.

2.3: LITERATURE SURVEY:

A controversial claim: Something fundamentally new ishappening. Until now, ALL
information that we got from human beings we got from theirperipheral nervous system. For the
first time in human history, we are developing the abilityto bypass the peripheral nervous system
and get information directly from the brain. Bypassing the Peripheral Nervous System:
• Phelps: Amygdala activation and racism
• Greene: Emotional activation & moral decision-making
• Canli: Extroverts amygdala activation to smiling faces
• Price, Zeffiro: Can he read English or Arabic?
• Kamitani & Tong, Haynes and Rees: visual patterns
• Schaefer et al: Violent offenders & brain structure.

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2.4: DISADVANTAGES:
 Equipment failures.
 Need for backup plans.
 Anxiety for professors.
 Time spent learning new technologies all the time.
 Resources are not always available.
 Constant Obsolescence of devices.
 Experts are required to collect evidences crime scene.

2.5:DISADVANTAGES WHILE USING THE TECHNIQUE:

Rosenfeld made specific false claims regarding the accuracy of his technique. In addition
to his false claims regarding applicability in the real world, Rosenfeld claimed a much higher
accuracy rate in the field than his technique has achieved even in highly controlled and artificial
laboratory conditions. As noted above, Rosenfeld stated:
―If you had a suspected terrorist in custody and you had some idea what he was planning to do
next, you could give him this test,‖ says Rosenfeld.
―In general, about one out of 20 subjects will beat the test using countermeasures. But chances
are we‘re going to catch them anyway because their reaction times will give them away. Rosenfeld
made a specific numerical claim about the projected accuracy of his technique in the field (where
it has never been used), a claim that would not have been true even if he had been referring only
to his laboratory tests. In the above cited quotation, Rosenfeld claims his technique would achieve
95% accuracy in detecting terrorists when they practice countermeasures, and mentions no
possibility of any errors at all except those brought about by countermeasures. He claims 5% false
negatives with countermeasures and strongly implies 0% false negatives without countermeasures.
He also says that even for the 5% of subjects who beat the system with countermeasures,
―chances are we‘re going to catch them anyway‖ with reaction time measurements. This clearly
is a claim that his technique can be expected to achieve a false negative rate even lower than 5%
when reaction times as well as brainwaves are considered. This amounts to a claim of over 95%
accuracy with countermeasures and a strong implication of 100% accuracy without
countermeasures in detecting concealed information. (His claim does not address detecting
innocent‖ subjects who do not know the relevant information, or falsepositive errors in failing to
detect such subjects.)

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 Rosenfeld et al., 2009; Rosenfeld & Labkovsky, in press; Winograd & Rosenfeld, in press)
for subjects who have the relevant knowledge have ranged from 53% (8 of 15 subjects) (Meixner
et al.) to 100% (12 of 12 subjects) (Meixner & Rosenfeld, in press) and averaged approximately
87% without countermeasures. With countermeasures, accuracy has ranged from 36% (Meixner
et al.) to 100% (Meixner & Rosenfeld, in press) and averaged approximately 71%. In some cases
the inclusion reaction-time analysis has resulted in detection of subjects otherwise undetected. For
example, using their preferred analysis method Rosenfeld et al. (2008) detected 63% of
countermeasure subjects with brainwaves and 87% by including reaction times. His own published
data show that Rosenfeld‘s claim of over 95% accuracy with countermeasures and strong
implication of 100% accuracy without countermeasures is false. His claim would have been false
even if it had been only about laboratory studies and not application to a terrorist in custody in the
real world. Nor is there any evidence in any of his publications or anywhere else that even the
moderate accuracy rates obtained (albeit inconsistently) in Rosenfeld‘s highly contrived laboratory
conditions would be obtained if his procedures were attempted on a suspected terrorist in custody
or in any real application.

Rosenfeld‘s false claims of accuracy were not restricted to florid statements to reporters,
however. His false claims extended to the realm of scientific journals as well. In an article in
Psychophysiology, Rosenfeld et al. (2008) cited Rosenfeld‘s (2005) SRMHP article, and the false
information contained therein, in support of a false claim that his technique is ―more accurate
than previously published methods for detecting concealed information (p. 917). (Brain
fingerprinting is obviously a previously published method.) It is false on the face of it to claim that
Rosenfeld‘s technique, which has had up to nearly 50% false negatives in some studies and
averaged about 13% false negatives, is more accurate than brain fingerprinting, which has never
had a false negative (or a false positive). This is discussed in detail below in the context of more
detailed discussions of accuracy rates, statistics, publications, and countermeasures.

Figure: 2.1

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 Chapter 3
PROPOSED SYSTEM

Electroencephalography (EEG) is the measurement of electrical activity produced by the

brain as recorded from electrodes placed on the scalp. Just as the activity in a computer can be
understood on multiple levels, from the activity of individual transistors to the function of
applications, so can the electrical activity of the brain be described on relatively small to relatively
large scales. At one end are action potentials in a single axon or currents within a single dendrite
of a single neuron, and at the other end is the activity measured by the EEG which aggregates the
electric voltage fields from millions of neurons. So-called scalp EEG is collected from tens to
hundreds of electrodes positioned on different locations at the surface of the head. EEG signals (in
the range of milli-volts) are amplified and digitalized for later processing. The data measured by
the scalp EEG are used for clinical and research purposes.

Figure: 3.1

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3.1 SOURCE OF EEG ACTIVITY:
Scalp EEG activity oscillates at multiple frequencies having different characteristic spatial
distributions associated with different states of brain functioning such as waking and sleeping.
These oscillations represent synchronized activity over a network of neurons. The neuronal
networks underlying some of these oscillations are understood (such as the thalamocortical
resonance underlying sleep spindles) while many others are not (e.g. the system that generates the
posterior basic rhythm).
3.2 EEG VS FMRI AND PET:
EEG has several strong sides as a tool of exploring brain activity; for example, its time
resolution is very high. Other methods of looking at brain activity, such as PET and FMRI have
time resolution between seconds and minutes. EEG measures the brain's electrical activity directly,
while other methods record changes in blood flow (e.g., SPECT, FMRI) or metabolic activity (e.g.,
PET), which are indirect markers of brain electrical activity. EEG can be used simultaneously with
FMRI so that high-temporalresolution data can be recorded at the same time as high-spatial-
resolution data, however, since the data derived from each occurs over a different time course, the
data sets do not necessarily represent the exact same brain activity. There are technical difficulties
associated with combining these two modalities like currents can be induced in moving EEG
electrode wires due to the magnetic field of the MRI. EEG can be recorded at the same time as
MEG so that data from these complimentary high-time-resolution techniques can be combined.
Magneto-encephalography (MEG) is an imaging technique used to measure the magnetic fields
produced by electrical activity in the brain via extremely sensitive devices such as superconducting
quantum interference devices (SQUIDs). These measurements are commonly used in both
research and clinical settings. There are many uses for the MEG, including assisting surgeons in
localizing pathology, assisting researchers in determining the function of various parts of the brain,
neuro-feedback, and others.
METHOD:
Scalp EEG, the recording is obtained by placing electrodes on the scalp. Each electrode is
connected to one input of a differential amplifier and a Brain Fingerprinting Division of Computer
Engineering, SOE 9 common system reference electrode is connected to the other input of each
differential amplifier. These amplifiers amplify the voltage between the active electrode and the
reference (typically 1,000–100,000 times, or 60–100 dB of voltage gain). A typical adult human
EEG signal is about 10µV to 100 µV in amplitude when measured from the scalp [2] and is about
10–20 mV when measured from subdural electrodes. In digital EEG systems, the amplified signal
is digitized via an analog-to-digital converter, after being passed through an anti-aliasing filter.
Since an EEG voltage signal represents a difference between the voltages at two electrodes, the
display of the EEG for the reading encephalographer may be set up in one of several ways.

9
Figure: 3.2

Figure: 3.3

10
 Chapter 4
COMPARISON

4.1 COMPARISION OF OTHER TECHNOLOGIES:

Fingerprints and DNA are available in only 1% of crimes. The brain and the evidence
recorded in it are always are there. No questions are asked and no answers are given during Farwell
Brain Fingerprinting. This technology depends only on the brain information processing, it does
not depend on the emotional response of the subject. It would be inappropriate to generalize the
results of the present research because of the small sample of subjects. But the 100% accuracy and
high confidence level of the results, however, provide further support for the results from previous
research using the MERMER testing. Both the analysis using the P300-MERMER and the analysis
using the P300 alone produced error rates of 0 %, accuracy rates of 100 %. There were no false
negatives and no false positives. There were also no indeterminates.

The median statistical confidence for P300-based determinations was 99.6 %, as compared
to 99.9 % for the P300-MERMER. The mean statistical confidence for P300-based determinations
was 97.9 %, as compared to 99.5 % for the P300-MERMER. The statistical confidences for the
P300-MERMER-based analysis were significantly higher than those for the P300-based analysis
(p < .0001, sign test), for the combined data for all studies. P300-MERMER analysis also produced
significantly higher statistical confidences (p < .0001) in each of the four studies taken separately.
All P300-based determinations were above the pre-established criteria of 90 % for information-
present determinations and 70 % for information-absent determinations. All P300-based
determinations were in fact above 90 % statistical confidence for both information-present and
information-absent subjects. For information-absent subjects, this means that all determinations
were at least 20 percentage points above the criterion. Some of the information-present
determinations, however, were close to the 90 % criterion.

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 All determinations, however, were far from either a false positive or a false negative, even
when using only the P300. With the P300-based analysis, all information-present and information-
absent subjects’ data were correctly grouped in the correct 10 % range at one end or the other of
the distribution, as compared with the 5 % range for the P300-MERMER-based analysis. Thus,
for the P300-based analysis, the spread between the least statistically confident information-
present subject’s determination and the least statistically confident information-absent subject’s
determination was over 80 percentage points. Statistically, all subjects were extremely far from
being misclassified in either a false-negative or false-positive category with both the P300-based
analysis and the P300-MERMER-based analysis. In 43 of 76 subjects (57 %), the statistical
confidence for the P300-MERMER-based determination was higher than the statistical confidence
for the P300-based determination. In these 43 subjects, the P300-MERMER produced a mean
increment in statistical confidence of 2.7 % over the P300. For all subjects combined, including
those where the statistical confidences were equal for P300-MERMER and P300, the mean
increment produced by the P300-MERMER over the P300 was 1.5 %. The advantage of the P300-
MERMER over the P300 may have been limited by a ceiling effect. The statistical confidence for
both P300-MERMER-based and P300-based analyses was 99.9 % for 28 of 76 subjects (37 %).
Considering only the subjects whose P300-based analysis yielded less than the maximum possible
99.9 % confidence, in 43 of 48 cases (90 %), the P300-MERMER-based analysis yielded a higher
statistical confidence than the P300-based analysis. The four brain fingerprinting studies used two
types of brain fingerprinting tests to detect two different types of real-life information. The CIA
Real Life Study and the Real Crime Real Consequences $100,000 Reward Study were specific
issue tests. They detected specific issue knowledge, that is, knowledge regarding specific crimes
(or, in some cases in the CIA study, other real-life events). The FBI Agent Study and the Bomb
Maker Study were specific screening tests. They detected specific group knowledge, that is,
knowledge known to people with particular training, expertise, or familiarity with the inner
workings of a particular group or organization.

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4.2 P300 MERMER based and P300 based results:

These two types of tests address two fundamental needs in law enforcement, criminal
justice, counterterrorism, and national security. One is to determine objectively whether or not a
specific suspect has information stored in his brain that is known only to participants in a particular
crime and to investigators. The other is to determine objectively whether or not a particular suspect
has knowledge that is unique to individuals with particular training or expertise, such as IED
making, or to members of a particular organization or group, such as Al-Qaeda-trained terrorists
or members of a terrorist cell or a foreign intelligence agency. Brain fingerprinting proved highly
accurate in detecting both types of real-world information stored in the brains of subjects. It also
proved highly accurate in detecting the absence of such information in the brains of subjects who
did not possess the relevant information.

In view of our results, we suggest that a higher criterion for both information-present and
information-absent determinations is in order for future field applications of these methods. A
criterion of 95 % statistical confidence for an information-present determination, and 95 %
confidence in the opposite direction for an information-absent determination, would in our view
be appropriate. Our results suggest that following these specific methods and meeting these
specific scientific standards provides sufficient conditions for viable field use of brain
fingerprinting technology in detecting concealed information in real-world situations where the
outcome of the test may result in substantial consequences. In our view, it would be a serious error,
and in some cases a serious violation of rights, to fail to apply or at least to make available for
voluntary use this technology to determine the truth in cases where not knowing the truth can have
serious consequences. Detecting or failing to detect the truth regarding what information certain
individuals possess or do not possess is often critical to solving a crime or addressing a threat to
national or global security. In our view, brain fingerprinting, when practiced and interpreted
according to the scientific standards outlined herein, can be a valid, accurate, and reliable means
to discover such truth.

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4.3 Future implications of the difference in P300-MERMER and P300 results:

In all four studies, the analysis using the P300-MERMER produced significantly higher
statistical confidences than the analysis using the P300 alone. Error rates were the same for both
analysis methods. The identical error rates may have been due to a ceiling effect, given that error
rates were 0 % (100 % accuracy) for both the P300-MERMER and the P300, and both techniques
produced results that were extremely far from an error in every case. No technique is 100 %
accurate forever, however. In the future the higher statistical confidences provided by the P300-
MERMER will be likely to result in a lower error rate as well, when and if eventually the technique
produces errors.

Also, the P300-MERMER analysis yielded results that were quite far from an
indeterminate, whereas the P300 yielded results for a few subjects that were close to an
indeterminate outcome. It is likely that in the future the P300 will produce more indeterminates
than the P300-MERMER, even when neither technique produces an error or even anything close
to an error. Research in other laboratories suggests that at least the most essential of these standards
are necessary for valid, accurate, and reliable results. Several studies that used different methods
reported error rates an order of magnitude higher than those of the present study and previous
similar ones, as well as much lower statistical confidences (no better than chance for information-
absent subjects). (For a review see Farwell 2012).

For example, Rosenfeld et al. (2004) reported overall 35 % error rate without
countermeasures and 67 % error rate with countermeasures. Rosenfeld et al. (2008) and subsequent
studies on the “complex trial protocol” reported an overall error rate of 15 % without
countermeasures and 29 % with countermeasures. In all of these studies, statistical confidences
(when reported) for information-present subjects were over 90 %, and statistical confidences for
information-absent subjects averaged approximately 50 % (chance).

14
 Indeterminate to 42 % error rate with 0 % indeterminate. Different methods produce
different results. The standard brain fingerprinting methods applied in the current studies have
produced the kind of results reported herein, and similar results in independent replications
elsewhere (e.g. Allen and Iacono 1997). Different methods have produced dramatically different
results more than an order of magnitude higher error rates, dramatically lower statistical
confidences (some methods averaging no better than chance for information-absent subjects), and
susceptibility to countermeasures. We suggest that the differences in methods responsible for these
differences in results have included the features discussed below. These are discussed in more
detail, with specific reference to all related publications to date in English, in Farwell (2012).

Three other experimental methodologies will be discussed in order to address the

significance of the MERMER in investigative roles: In research conducted by Dr. Farwell in
collaboration with Dr. Drew Richardson, then a scientist at the FBI Laboratory, Brain
Fingerprinting had 100% accurate scientific results in using the MERMER to distinguish 17 FBI
agents from 4 non-FBI agents out of a group of 21 subjects. [1] In one experiment, the information
detected was specific knowledge that would identify an individual as an FBI agent. The purpose
of this experiment was to determine whether this method could be useful in detecting members of
a group or organization of people with a particular knowledge (e.g., members of a foreign
intelligence organization or a terrorist organization). Stimuli were words, phrases, and acronyms
flashed on a computer screen that would be common knowledge only to someone within federal
law enforcement. A second experiment, conducted at the FBI by Dr. Farwell in collaboration with
SSA Sharon Smith of the FBI Laboratory, correctly detected whether or not individuals had
participated in specific, real-life events. This research has been published in the Journal of Forensic
Sciences. The second study was commissioned by the CIA and consisted of three experiments that
examined the interchangeability of indicators. The first consisted of pictorial stimuli with probes
and targets directly related to a simulated espionage enacted by some of the subjects. Another
experiment was conducted by Dr. Farwell at the US Navy in collaboration with Navy LCDR Rene
Hernandez, PhD. This experiment was collaboration between the intelligence agency and the
Navy. In this experiment words, phrases, and acronyms were presented on a computer screen, and
the information detected through brain responses was relevant to knowledge of military medicine.

15
 A third example used verbal stimuli to identify subjects with knowledge of actual crimes.
All 79 subjects in these three trials were identified correctly as “information present” or
“information absent”. As with the other experiments, Brain Fingerprinting was 100% accurate.
The weight of the evidence in this body of experimentation would imply that systematic
replications have been performed and have been found consistent with the conclusion that brain
fingerprinting is scientifically valid. Visual and pictorial stimuli were both shown to be relevant
methods of presentation. Live situation engagement, mock acting, and academic knowledge are
all considered to be proven valid test criteria.

4.4 Statistical methodologies:

In most event-related brain potential studies, the data from many subjects are analyzed to
draw conclusions about the processes taking place in the brain during a certain task. Since data are
combined across subjects, and the results for any individual subject do not need to be statistically
significant, relatively small number of responses can be collected for each subject. In Brain
Fingerprinting testing and other brainwave-based techniques for detecting concealed information
in the brain, it is important do draw highly accurate conclusions, with a high statistical confidence,
for each individual subject. For example, when Dr. Farwell used Brain Fingerprinting technology
to detect and record the murder of Julie Helton in the brain of JB Grinder, it would not have been
useful to test 20 suspected serial killers and conclude that, as a group, these 20 had significantly
more information about the crime than some other group. It was only necessary to determine, with
high statistical confidence, one of two conclusions: a) JB Grinder’s brain contained a record of the
salient details of the murder of Julie Helton, or b) JB Grinder’s brain did not contain a record of
the significant details of the murder of Julie Helton. Brain Fingerprinting testing led to the former
conclusion, with a 99.9% confidence. Grinder pled guilty and was sentenced to life in prison By
using a bootstrap algorithm Resampling (statistics), measurements from each individual subject
can be averaged and compared in a way that is statistically meaningful. The bootstrapping
algorithm provides for a determination of “information present” or “information absent” for each
individual subject, and a statistical confidence for each individual determination for a single
subject. The irrelavents and targets from the same subject provide control standards by which the
unknown variables (the probes) may be compared. Such within-subject comparisons provide the

16
only meaningful and practically useful statistics with regard to “information present” or
“information absent” determinations.

Table: 4.1

17
P300 VERSES MERMER

Table: 4.2

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 Chapter 5

APPLICATIONS

5.1: Counter terrorism:

Brain fingerprinting can help address the following critical elements in the fight against
terrorism:-

A: Aid in determining who has participated in terrorist acts, directly or indirectly.

B: 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.

C: Help to identify people who have knowledge or training in banking, finance or communications
and who are associated with terrorist teams and acts.

D: Help to determine if an individual is in a leadership role within a terrorist organization.

5.2: Criminal justice:

A critical task of the criminal justice system is to determine who has committed a crime.
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. Brain Fingerprinting testing does not prove guilt or innocence. That is the
role of a judge and jury. This exciting technology gives the judge and jury new, scientifically valid
evidence to help them arrive at their decision.

5.3: Medical:

“Brain Fingerprinting” is the patented technology that can measure objectively, for the first
time, how memory and cognitive functioning of Alzheimer sufferers are affected by medications.

19
First generation tests have proven to be more accurate than other routinely used tests, and could
be commercially available in 18-24 months.

The 30 minute test involves wearing a headband with built-in electrodes; technicians then
present words, phrases and images that are both known and unknown to the patient to determine
whether information that should be in the brain is still there. When presented with familiar
information, the brain responds by producing MERMERs, specific increases in neuron activity.
The technician can use this response to measure how quickly information is disappearing from the
brain and whether the drugs they are taking are slowing down the process.

5.4: Advertising:

Not actually a reality but in the future for sure, brain fingerprinting can be used to examine
the “pulse of people” by getting the information in brains of people to the effects that
advertisements being used for publicity create. Though it’s a long shot it will be a reality in the
near future. According to the above point, as the technology is costly, not all the patients or
innocent people can use this technology to save themselves. The chances of availability of the
equipment’s is very low. This technique is not 100% true in every case as it only detects
information in the brain of a person. It may be that an innocent person maybe knowing about the
crime as a third person or listener or maybe that he may be present at the crime scene. So this may
give an opportunity to the criminal to create a scene of doubt as the technology doesn’t actually
specify the roles of the people showing electrical brainwave responses.

Brain fingerprinting cannot be applied to every case or to every suspect because there may
be cases in which the investigators may not be knowing anything about the crime scene while the
criminal disappears from the hearing. So, no conclusion could be deciphered. There can be cases
when the criminal may claim that he was present at the crime scene but only as an eye witness. So,
in this case the person knows everything about the crime scene but did not commit the crime.
Therefore, no information can be deciphered.

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 Figure: 5.1

INFORMATION COLLECTION: Gathering evidences from crime scenes.

BRAIN EVIDENCE COLLECTION: A specialist checks whether the crime scene evidence
matches evidence stored in brain.

COMPUTER EVIDENCE ANALYSIS: Computerized analysis is done on the brain evidences and
statistical methods are applied to move to the next phase.

SCIENTIFIC RESULT: Finding whether the person is guilty or not guilty.

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 Chapter 6

FUTURE SCOPE

Brain Fingerprinting is a revolutionary new scientific technology for solving crimes,

identifying perpetrators, and exonerating innocent suspects, with a record of 100% accuracy in
research with US government agencies, actual criminal cases, and other applications. The
technology investigators fulfill an urgent need for governments, law enforcement agencies,
corporations, crime victims, and falsely accused innocent suspects.

6.1: Four phases of Farwell brain fingerprinting:

In fingerprinting and DNA fingerprinting, evidence is recognized and collected at the crime scene,
and preserved properly until a suspect is apprehended, is scientifically compared with evidence on
the person of the suspect to detect a match that would place the suspect at the crime scene. Farwell
Brain fingerprinting works similarly, except that the evidence collected both at the crime scene
and on the person of the suspect (that is, in the brain as revealed by electrical brain responses) is
informational evidence rather than physical evidence.

There are four stages to Farwell brain fingerprinting, which are similar to the steps in fingerprinting
and DNA fingerprinting:

1. Brain fingerprinting crime scene evidence collection.

2. Brain fingerprinting brain evidence collection.

3. Brain fingerprinting computer evidence analysis.

4. Brain fingerprinting scientific result.

In the crime scene evidence collection, an expert in Farwell brain fingerprinting examines the
crime scene and other evidence connected with the crime to identify detail of the crime that would
be known only to the perpetrator. The expert then conducts the brain evidence collection in order

22
to determine whether or not the evidence from the crime scene matches evidence stored in the
brain of suspect.

In the computer evidence analysis, the Farwell brain fingerprinting system makes a
mathematical determination as to whether or not this specific evidence is stored in the brain, and
computes a statistical confidence for that determination. This determination and statistical
confidence constitute the scientific result of Farwell brain fingerprinting: either "information
present" –the details of the crime are stored in the brain of the suspect – or "information absent"
the details of the crime are not stored in the of the suspect.

6.2:Record of 100% of accuracy:

At the time of this first field application, Dr. Farwell's successes in the scientific laboratory with
his invention were already well known. In collaboration with FBI scientist Dr. Drew Richardson,
Dr. Farwell achieved 100% accuracy in using Farwell Brain Fingerprinting to identify FBI agents
based on their brain responses to words and phrases only an FBI agent would recognize. Tests
conducted by Dr. Farwell for the US Navy in collaboration with Navy LCDR Rene S. Hernandez,
Ph.D., also resulted in 100% accurate results. In research on contract with a US government
intelligence agency, Farwell Brain Fingerprinting achieved 100% accuracy in proving the presence
or absence of a wide variety of evidence stored in the brains of individuals involved in over 120
cases. Dr. Farwell has published extensively in the scientific literature and presented his research
to many scientific and technical audiences throughout the world. Farwell Brain Fingerprinting has
been subjected to rigorous peer review under US government sponsorship, and has been found
scientifically viable as well as revolutionary in its implications.

Brain Fingerprinting is a revolutionary new scientific echnology for solving crimes

identifying perpetrators, and exonerating innocent suspects, with a record of 100% accuracy in
research with US government agencies, actual criminal cases, and other applications. Brain
Fingerprinting technology is a advanced brain computer interface technology for solving the
criminals case and also identify the perpetrators, and exonerating innocent suspects. This
technology provide the 99.9% accurate result towards crime victims, falsely accused innocent

23
suspects. The technology investigators fulfill an urgent need for governments, law enforcement
agencies, corporations, crime victims, and falsely accused innocent suspects.

DNA was discovered as the genetic material by Oswald Avery and his associates in

1944 but it took 44 years for it to become admissible as evidence in the courts. Would the brain
fingerprinting technology become admissible in our courts or would it be junked as a junk science?
Only time will be able to answer this question. It took years of struggle to get DNA evidence
admitted as expert evidence in the courts worldwide, a similar tortuous route appears to await, the
admission of brain fingerprinting results as evidence. But I am not so much concerned with its
admissibility in courts, what I am concerned with and championing for, is it’s utility as an adjunct,
in the police investigation to expedite the investigative process in a few complicated cases.

In 2001, brain fingerprinting was ruled as admissible in the USA, in Harrington vs the State
of Iowa case. This case remains the only US case in which Dr Farwell’s forensics brain wave
analysis (FBA)technology has been admitted formally as evidence and considered. India was the
first country to convict an accused relying on evidence provided by brain fingerprinting device
and the second country after the United States to introduce brain fingerprinting for detection of
crimes. Experts in psychology and neuroscience were uniformly troubled that a criminal
conviction was granted even before the method could be validated by an independent body. In
2010 the Indian Supreme Court struck it down and declared evidence from a brain scanner as not
admissible. In Selvi & Others vs the State of Karnataka, the Supreme Court held that the
application of the BEOS system violated a number of fundamental rights in the Indian
Constitution, in particular, the right against self-incrimination, and could only be used with the
suspect’s or defendant’s express, informed consent. This decision also became applicable to the
use of polygraphs and narco-analysis in the Indian criminal justice system. It, therefore, appears
that there are a number of significant scientific and legal hurdles that will have to be overcome for
the BEOS system to become accepted as a forensic procedure in the Indian legal criminal justice
system.

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 But all hope is not lost. A ray of light has emerged from pilot studies on forensic brain
wave analysis (FBA) conducted by New Zealand Law Foundation from March 2016 to 2017 which
had the primary objective of investigating, at a prima facie level, the reliability of Dr Lawrence
Farwell’s forensic brainwave analysis technology, and the legal implications of the potential
application of this technology in New Zealand. At the end of the pilot phase, the FBA Project
Team was satisfied that the science on which forensic brainwave analysis (FBA) technology is
based provided sufficient confidence for further experiments and testing. That day, therefore, does
not appear far off, when forensic brain wave analysis would receive the same validation that DNA
technology has been able to achieve until now.

In November 2015, the Raksha Shakthi University (RSU ) Ahmedabad become the first
institute in India to acquire the brain fingerprinting technology in collaboration with US firm called
Brainwave Science. In 2016, CBI approached RSU, Ahmedabad to solve a case of rape in the toilet
of a running train where a teacher was reportedly raped by a suspect named Amar in Mumbai.
Kerala high court in another case ordered brain fingerprinting test to solve the case of the
disappearance of a woman in Dubai. In the former, the complicity of Amar in the rape was
confirmed during brainwave analysis, while in the latter the suspect committed suicide before the
test could be administered. A number of high profile suspects and criminals, from extradited
gangster Abu Salem to stamp scamster Abdul Karim Telgi we’re also administered the tests in
Bangalore. This non-verbal interrogation method was also applied to the three suspects of the Bihar
midday meal poisoning case, in which several children had died

This technique could prove valuable in solving the complicated cases being reported today
and in future. Indian police recently arrested left-wing activists for suspected links to banned
Maoist rebels, across five states in connection with an alleged plot by the Maoist extremists to
assassinate Prime Minister Narendra Modi. If true, forensic brainwave analysis would help us
search out the information concerning the plot from the nooks of their brains. On July 26, this year,
the parliament passed the new anti-trafficking bill. Pavan Khurana , Rajan Yadav, Sundari and
Shahbin of Nepal, who were arrested on 30th July 2018 by the Varanasi Crime Branch are reported
to have trafficked thousands of girls to Middle East countries. network in its entirety. Similarly,

25
the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the first week of August this year arrested Habibur
Rahman, an alleged handler of hardened Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorist Shaikh Naeem after he was
deported from Saudi Arabia. He is believed to have provided shelter, hideouts and funds for
terrorists like Naeem on different occasions for carrying out terrorist activities in India on the
directions of the LeT commander Amjad Rehan who is based out of Pakistan. Studying his brain
waves would help determine if his brain contains specific knowledge of terrorist attacks carried
out earlier, besides details of the other members of the organisation, and bomb-making knowledge
as well as the internal workings of his terrorist organisation. Such information could prove valuable
in helping the police reverse engineer a complete terrorist network, pigeonhole their funding
techniques as well as the connections.

Brain fingerprinting has certain limitations. If the investigators have no idea of what took
place in the perpetration of a crime, for instance, if a person simply disappears and foul play is
suspected, it will not be possible to develop any probe stimulus. Under the circumstances, no brain
fingerprinting test can be conducted. Secondly, if the suspect knows everything that the
investigators know about the crime then the test will not produce incriminating results. One
example being that if the suspect acknowledges the fact of having been present at the scene of the
crime as an eye-witness and but not as a perpetrator, in such cases probes cannot be developed and
a brain wave test cannot be structured. Thirdly, in an alleged sexual assault or rape, if the victim
and the suspect agree on the details of the place and events but disagree on the intent of the parties,
then the test will be inconclusive as brain fingerprinting detects only information and not the intent.

In spite of some shortcomings, forensic brainwave analysis technology appears to have the
ability to make a significant contribution to the administration of justice, in both civil and criminal
settings. However, the fundamental and applied authenticity of FBA technology will first have to
be unequivocally established, with all relevant legal rights, and protections put in place.

26
Figure: 6.1

Figure: 6.2

27
 Chapter 7

CONCLUSION

Brain Fingerprinting is a revolutionary newtechnology for solving crimes, with a record of

100% accuracy. The technology fulfills an urgent need for governments, law enforcement
agencies,corporations, and individuals in a trillion-dollar worldwide market. The technology is
fullydeveloped and available for application in the field. Brain Fingerprinting is a revolutionary
new scientific technology for solving crimes, identifying perpetrators, and exonerating innocent
suspects, with a record of 100% accuracy in research with US government agencies, actual
criminal cases, and other applications. The technology fulfills an urgent need for governments,
law enforcement agencies, corporations, investigators, crime victims, and falsely accused innocent
suspects.

• It would be inappropriate to generalize the results of the present research because of the small
sample of subjects.

• But the 100% accuracy and high confidence level of the results, however, provide further support
for results from previous research using brain MERMER testing.

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