Delta Scan: The Future of Science and Technology, 2005-2055: The Brain Imaging Revolution in Psychology

Key Pages

Category:
Science and Technology

Domain:
Psychology

Keywords:
Cognitive & neurosciences - brain imaging, psychology, fMRI

Outlook:
Developments in brain imaging will continue to provide new insights into relationships between brain and mind states, and into psychological processes that can be quantified objectively and used to provide other measures of brain output besides overt behaviour and inferences from psychology experiments.

Summary Analysis:

Brain imaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), provide a window into the workings of the brain. Scientists are able to find out which areas of the brain are active when a person is solving a mathematical problem, trying to find the way home from a distant part of the city, feeling anger or love, or doing mundane activities like shopping. Neurologists and psychologists have also identified fMRI signatures of brain pathology that help in the diagnosis and treatments of disorders.

Brain imaging promises to provide new tools that could redefine the discipline of psychology. Invisible psychological processes that psychologists have had to infer will become increasingly visible and quantifiable. New breakthroughs could be possible that would help psychologists understand how the brain responds in a social context. Neural engineering - rewiring some circuits, transplanting others, and shifting imbalances in neural chemistry - could become a new tool to help cure neural abnormalities such as autism, depression, and schizophrenia.

Scientists may also develop a better understanding of how the cells of the nervous system communicate chemically. This could pave the way for more efficient treatments of mental conditions, rather than the current approaches to conditions such as depression (eg prozac), which result wholesale changes to the brain, when what is probably needed is more subtle modification to brain function.

Implications:

Closer integration of psychology and neuroscience
Emergence of new ways of thinking and new theories as the invisible becomes visible
Abandonment or validation with visible data of older theories based on theoretical constructs regarding invisible psychological processes (such as Freudianism and Jungianism)

Early Indicators:

Current development of innovative educational and rehabilitation tools for children and the elderly based on the discovery that the central nervous system is plastic -- that is, modifiable through behavioural intervention
Current use of scanning techniques to diagnose schizophrenia, detect subtle racist or sexist thoughts through patterns, and treat Parkinson's disease during implant surgery, and in the development of drugs such as Ritalin and Ambien
Discovery through brain imaging that new love resembles mental illness -- a mixture of mania, dementia, and obsession

What to Watch:

Brain imaging equipment becomes easily available and affordable, ensuring its increased use as a diagnostic tool.

Parallels/Precedents:

Pavlov's experiments with classical conditioning, leading to behaviourism in psychology

Enabler/ Drivers:

Continuing development of new techniques of brain imaging such as optical imaging
Integration across domains of molecular, cellular, behavioral, and cognitive neuroscience

Leaders:
Regions:

US, Europe

Institutions:

Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Research Unit and Behaviour and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Cambridge University [link] [link]
University College London Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UK [link]
Brain and Behaviour Research Group, Open University, UK [link]
Cardiff University Brain Repair and Imaging Centre [link]
University of Iowa
Harvard University
Dartmouth College
CalTech
University of Pennsylvania
Princeton University
Utrecht University Medical Centre, The Netherlands (including psychosurgery) [link]
Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Germany [link]
Brain Mind Institute, Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland [link]
Centre for the Mind, University of Sydney, Australia [link]
European Institute for Biomedical Imaging Research [link]
Federation of European Neuroscientists [link]

Figures:

Sources:

"Drugs Futures 2025. Brain Science, Addiction and Drugs." 2005. Foresight [link]
"Connecting Brains and Society. The Present and Future of Brain Science: what is possible, what is desirable?" Proceedings of International Workshop. April 2004. Amsterdam, The Netherlands. King Baudouin Foundation, Belgium; Rathenau Institute, The Netherlands [link]
"Think Tank." 2005. Discover April.
Wolpe PR, Foster KR, Langleben DD. "Emerging neurotechnologies for lie-detection: promises and perils."Am J Bioeth, 2005 Spring.5(2):39-49 [link]
Benedict, Carey. 2005. "Watching New Love As It Sears the Brain." The New York Times May 31. [link]
Maguire, E. et al. "Recalling Routes around London: Activation of the Right Hippocampus in Taxi Drivers." September 15, 1997.Vol. 17, No. 18. Journal of Neuroscience [link]

At A Glance:
When:
21–50 years +

Where:
Global

How Fast:
Years

Likelihood:
High

Impact:
Medium-Low

Controversy:
Low

Related Outlooks:

About this outlook: An outlook is an internally consistent, plausible view of the future based on the best expertise available. It is not a prediction of the future. The AT-A-GLANCE ratings suggest the scope, scale, and uncertainty associated with this outlook. Each outlook is also a working document, with contributors adding comments and edits to improve the forecast over time. Please see the revision history for earlier versions.

Category:	Science and Technology
Domain:	Psychology
Keywords:	Cognitive & neurosciences - brain imaging, psychology, fMRI
Outlook:	Developments in brain imaging will continue to provide new insights into relationships between brain and mind states, and into psychological processes that can be quantified objectively and used to provide other measures of brain output besides overt behaviour and inferences from psychology experiments.
Summary Analysis:	Brain imaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), provide a window into the workings of the brain. Scientists are able to find out which areas of the brain are active when a person is solving a mathematical problem, trying to find the way home from a distant part of the city, feeling anger or love, or doing mundane activities like shopping. Neurologists and psychologists have also identified fMRI signatures of brain pathology that help in the diagnosis and treatments of disorders. Brain imaging promises to provide new tools that could redefine the discipline of psychology. Invisible psychological processes that psychologists have had to infer will become increasingly visible and quantifiable. New breakthroughs could be possible that would help psychologists understand how the brain responds in a social context. Neural engineering - rewiring some circuits, transplanting others, and shifting imbalances in neural chemistry - could become a new tool to help cure neural abnormalities such as autism, depression, and schizophrenia. Scientists may also develop a better understanding of how the cells of the nervous system communicate chemically. This could pave the way for more efficient treatments of mental conditions, rather than the current approaches to conditions such as depression (eg prozac), which result wholesale changes to the brain, when what is probably needed is more subtle modification to brain function.

	Implications:	Closer integration of psychology and neuroscience Emergence of new ways of thinking and new theories as the invisible becomes visible Abandonment or validation with visible data of older theories based on theoretical constructs regarding invisible psychological processes (such as Freudianism and Jungianism)
	Early Indicators:	Current development of innovative educational and rehabilitation tools for children and the elderly based on the discovery that the central nervous system is plastic -- that is, modifiable through behavioural intervention Current use of scanning techniques to diagnose schizophrenia, detect subtle racist or sexist thoughts through patterns, and treat Parkinson's disease during implant surgery, and in the development of drugs such as Ritalin and Ambien Discovery through brain imaging that new love resembles mental illness -- a mixture of mania, dementia, and obsession
	What to Watch:	Brain imaging equipment becomes easily available and affordable, ensuring its increased use as a diagnostic tool.
	Parallels/Precedents:	Pavlov's experiments with classical conditioning, leading to behaviourism in psychology
	Enabler/ Drivers:	Continuing development of new techniques of brain imaging such as optical imaging Integration across domains of molecular, cellular, behavioral, and cognitive neuroscience
	Leaders:	Regions: US, Europe Institutions: Medical Research Council Cognition and Brain Sciences Research Unit and Behaviour and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, Cambridge University [link] [link] University College London Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, UK [link] Brain and Behaviour Research Group, Open University, UK [link] Cardiff University Brain Repair and Imaging Centre [link] University of Iowa Harvard University Dartmouth College CalTech University of Pennsylvania Princeton University Utrecht University Medical Centre, The Netherlands (including psychosurgery) [link] Max Planck Institute for Brain Research, Germany [link] Brain Mind Institute, Federal Institute of Technology, Switzerland [link] Centre for the Mind, University of Sydney, Australia [link] European Institute for Biomedical Imaging Research [link] Federation of European Neuroscientists [link]
	Figures:
	Sources:	"Drugs Futures 2025. Brain Science, Addiction and Drugs." 2005. Foresight [link] "Connecting Brains and Society. The Present and Future of Brain Science: what is possible, what is desirable?" Proceedings of International Workshop. April 2004. Amsterdam, The Netherlands. King Baudouin Foundation, Belgium; Rathenau Institute, The Netherlands [link] "Think Tank." 2005. Discover April. Wolpe PR, Foster KR, Langleben DD. "Emerging neurotechnologies for lie-detection: promises and perils."Am J Bioeth, 2005 Spring.5(2):39-49 [link] Benedict, Carey. 2005. "Watching New Love As It Sears the Brain." The New York Times May 31. [link] Maguire, E. et al. "Recalling Routes around London: Activation of the Right Hippocampus in Taxi Drivers." September 15, 1997.Vol. 17, No. 18. Journal of Neuroscience [link]

At A Glance:	When:	21–50 years +
	Where:	Global
	How Fast:	Years
	Likelihood:	High
	Impact:	Medium-Low
	Controversy:	Low