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The Human Mind 47

there is an illness called the ‘alien hand’ in which (usually) the left hand opposes actions both
contemplated and completed by the right. It is very common in investigators, whose right
hands often don’t know what the lefts are doing.

ALIEN HANDS could not pack suitcases. One man used to
put his cufflinks on with his right hand and
In one sad case a lady would pick her dresses immediately take them off with his left.
from the wardrobe with her right hand and
the left would put them straight back.6 She

KNEE-JERK REACTION upward jerk. The brain is not involved in this
movement and hence the phrase a ‘knee-
A tap on the knee of a person sitting down jerk reaction’. The body uses such reflex arcs
with his legs crossed produces a message to when a rapid reaction is needed.
the spinal cord, which sends a pre-processed
message to the leg to respond with an

When a person is anxious, under pressure, fearful, angry or lying, the cerebrum (upper
brain) has difficulty controlling other parts that are inputting, contending or thrashing about
to be heard. One reason for this is that the neurotransmitters going up from the limbic system
are more powerful than those coming back down from the upper brain. However, as adults we
regard it as ‘immature’ to react to emotional stimuli and try to suppress them.

One of the most important results of brain thrashing is when the limbic system causes
uncensored bodily movements and especially facial expressions. Such ‘micro-expressions’
occur for milliseconds usually before the upper brain can control them and produce a more
reasoned reaction.

LOUISE WOODWARD the baby, she said, ‘No’, but a micro-smile
seemed to influence the jury, who found
You may remember the case of the young her guilty. This was a great shame if, as she
British nanny – Louise Woodward – who was claimed, she was innocent.
accused of killing a baby in the USA. At her
trial, when she was asked whether she killed

Micro-expressions are very important

BRAIN FINGERPRINTING 300 milliseconds after stimulation. Thus when
details of a crime, for example the scene of
Brain fingerprinting works by flashing words a murder, are shown to the guilty subject he
or pictures relevant to a crime or other MERMERS, where innocent people do not.
incident, together with irrelevant words This activity can be detected on a headband
or images. When the subject recognizes equipped with sensors and MRI scanning.
information brain pulses, called MERMERS (or
P300 waves), are involuntarily emitted around

6 This might explain why it takes your wife so long to get ready to go out