Mind-Reading Edges Closer to Reality

New computer can determine what you're looking at

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 6, 2008 3:30 AM CST

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Mind-Reading Edges Closer to Reality — "The image identification problem is analogous to the classic magician's trick, 'pick a card, any card'", a scientist explaimed. "In this trick, the magician fans a deck of cards and asks you to pick a card, look at it, and then place it back in the deck. The magician's job is to figure out which card... ((c) Heo2035)

Mind-reading has taken a step toward possibility with a new computer that can decode brain activity to determine what a person is looking at with up to 90% accuracy, the Independent reports. With improvements, the technology could be able to reconstruct any image a person could conjure up—and someday, their very thoughts and dreams, said the lead researcher of the experiments detailed in the journal Nature.

The computer successfully "decoded" brain activity revealed on a medical scanner and matched it to photographs of what a subject had seen. The experiment opens a world of possibilities, but it could also lead to "serious ethical and privacy implications," said the top scientist. "It's something I do care about." (More neurology stories.)

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