Neuroethical concepts such as neuroprivacy developed initially in the 2000s , after the initial invention and development of neuroimaging techniques such as positron emission tomography ( PET ) , electroencephalography ( EEG ) , and functional magnetic resonance imaging ( fMRI ) . As neuroimaging became highly studied and popularized in the 1990s , it also started entering the commercial market as entrepreneurs sought to market the practical applications of neuroscience , such as neuromarketing , neuroenhancement and lie detection . Neuroprivacy consists of the privacy issues raised by both neuroscience research and applied uses of neuroimaging techniques . The relevance of neuroprivacy debate increased significantly after the 9/11 terrorist attacks , which lead to a push for increased neuroimaging in the context of information/threat detection and surveillance . Brain fingerprinting is a controversial and unproven EEG technique that relies on identifying the P300 event-related potential , which is correlated with recognition of some stimulus . The purpose of this technique is to determine if a person has incriminating information or memory . In its current state , brain fingerprinting is only able to determine the existence of information , and is unable to provide any specific details about that information . Its creator , Dr. Lawrence Farwell , claims brain fingerprinting is highly reliable and nearly impossible to fool , but some studies dispute its reliability and lack of countermeasures . Some possible countermeasures include thinking of something else instead of processing the real stimuli , mental suppression of recognition , or simply not cooperating with the test . There have been concerns over the potential use of memory dampening drugs such as propranolol to beat brain fingerprinting . However , some studies have shown that propranolol actually dampens the emotional arousal associated with a memory instead of the memory itself , which could even improve the recollection of the memory
9/11 terrorist attacks
September 11 attacks
Neuroprivacy