Scanner may read thoughts

Tuesday August 20th, 2013

Researchers may have successfully used a scanning device to read thoughts, it was announced yesterday.

Dutch researchers have reported successfully "training" a scanner to identify what volunteers are reading.

So far the scanner at Radboud University, Nijmegen, has only identified letters viewed by volunteers.

The researchers used functional MRI scanning to pin down parts of the brain viewing large hand-drawn letters.

They say the technique might soon be applied to provide images of dreams or imagined scenes in the brain.

As part of the training a computer model was told what letters looked like - and then fitted fuzzy, "speckle" images to letters - successfully identifying characters viewed by volunteers.

The findings have been reported in the journal Neuroimage.

Researcher Marcel van Gerven said: "Our approach is similar to how we believe the brain itself combines prior knowledge with sensory information.

"For example, you can recognise the lines and curves in this article as letters only after you have learned to read. And this is exactly what we are looking for: models that show what is happening in the brain in a realistic fashion."

Linear reconstruction of perceived images from human brain activity. Neuroimage August 2013

Tags: Brain & Neurology | General Health | Europe

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