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20 - Some Issues in Interpreting Neuroscientific Evidence

from IV - Evidence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2021

By
Bartłomiej Kucharzyk
Edited by
Bartosz Brożek ,
Jaap Hage  and
Nicole Vincent
Bartosz Brożek
Affiliation:
Jagiellonian University, Krakow
Jaap Hage
Affiliation:
Universiteit Maastricht, Netherlands
Nicole Vincent
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Sydney
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Summary

This paper comments on Jane Moriarty’s chapter on neuroimaging evidence in the US courts by presenting a couple of inferential pitfalls one may encounter in interpreting neuroscientific evidence in the context of law and trial.

First, a general issue of heterogeneity of neuroscientific data (structural vs. functional, individual vs. group) is discussed, which gives the background for revealing other problems. Secondly, an example of the multiplicity (cascade) of assumptions and inferences entangled in interpreting a simple CT scan in the legal context is presented. Finally, some specific inferential pitfalls are described (primarily the reverse inference issue, the group-to-individual problem, and the lingua franca problem) and a few more are briefly mentioned.

The paper suggests that, for now, the possibilities that neuroscience offers fact-finders are quite modest, and interpreting neuroscientific evidence in the context of law is a difficult business.

Type
Chapter
Information
Law and Mind
A Survey of Law and the Cognitive Sciences
 , pp. 421 - 430
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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