Decoding the brain

Benedict Carey profiles Michael Gazzaniga, the neuroscientist credited for studying the brain's split personality:

Brain science “will eventually begin to influence how the public views justice and responsibility,” Dr. Gazzaniga said at a recent conference here sponsored by the Edge Foundation. And there is no guarantee, he added, that its influence will be a good one. For one thing, brain-scanning technology is not ready for prime time in the legal system; it provides less information than people presume.

For another, new knowledge about neural processes is raising important questions about human responsibility. Scientists now know that the brain runs largely on autopilot; it acts first and asks questions later, often explaining behavior after the fact. So if much of behavior is automatic, then how responsible are people for their actions? Who’s driving this submarine, anyway?