A newly-published scientific research paper gives the conclusion that the harsh interrogation techniques used by the CIA under the Bush administration may have ‘damaged the brains of terrorist suspects, diminishing their ability to recall and provide the detailed information the spy agency sought.’
The harsh techniques utilized on the suspects damaged their facility for recall, making the whole process of interrogation cum torture an exercise in futility. Through the lens of neurobiology, such torturous interrogation methods are simply counterproductive, ‘no matter how much the suspects might have eventually talked.’
According to neuroscientist Shane O’Mara, “Solid scientific evidence on how repeated and extreme stress and pain affect memory suggests these techniques are unlikely to do anything other than the opposite of that intended by enhanced interrogation.”
O’Mara, a professor at Ireland’s Trinity College, adds that ‘the interrogation techniques appear based on “folk psychology”—a layman’s idea of how the brain works.’
Scientifically explained, the neuroscientist states that ‘prolonged sleep deprivation, being chained in painful positions, exploitation of phobias, and waterboarding cause the brain to release stress hormones that, if their release is repeated and prolonged, may result in compromised brain function and even tissue loss.’ Chronic stress and trauma, as what the CIA’s interrogation methods would have most likely produced in the prisoners, ‘can damage the hippocampus, the part of the brain that integrates memory.’
The paper was published on Monday in the scientific journal Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
Via newser
