Scientists Develop Novel Use Of Neurotechnology To Solve Classic Social Problem

September 14, 2009 | Source: ScienceDaily

Cal Tech economists and neuroscientists used whole-brain fMRI scans in an experiment to create a solution to the fundamental “public goods free-rider” problem (how to fairly rate the value of a public purchase or investment such as health care, given that people tend to undervalue it because they get benefit from it without paying more).

The subjects were asked to reveal how much they valued the good. If there was a match between their decision and the value detected by the fMRI, they paid a lower tax than if there was a mismatch, giving them an incentive to tell the truth and reveal how they truly valued a good, which subjects did 98 percent of the time.

The researchers said it is possible to imagine a future in which, instead of a vote on a proposition to fund a new highway, this technology is used to scan a random sample of the people who would benefit from the highway to see whether it’s really worth the investment.