Could We Soon Be Reading People's MINDS

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Could we soon be reading people's MINDS?Software uses brain scans to identify exactlywhat people are looking at

Software uses shape recognition with an algorithm to interpret brain scansIt can identify the shape and outline of an item a person is looking atThe process could also work when people think about a certain shape

By Victoria Woollaston

PUBLISHED: 11:02 GMT, 22 August 2013 | UPDATED: 12:37 GMT, 22 August 2013

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Researchers are a step closer to being able to read people's thoughts after creating a computer program thatcan identify what someone is looking at using brain scans.

A team from Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands used image and shape recognition software anda specially designed algorithm to assess changes in a person's brain activity using functional magneticresonance imaging (fMRI) technology.

During tests the scientists showed participants a series of letters and were able to identify exactly when, duringthe scan, they were looking at which letters.

Dutch researchers have created software that when used with brain scans can identifythe shape and outline of what a person is looking at. During tests, scientists showed

participants letters, pictured, and ran the changes that occurred in the brain after eachletter was shown through a bespoke algorithm to identify them

Dutch researchers used fMRI scans to zoom in on changes, pictured, in specific regionsof the brain called voxels, in the occipital lobe. These voxels are around 2x2x2

millimetres big and the occipital lobe is the part of the brain which reacts to visual stimuliand processes what the eyes can see through the retina

WHAT IS THE OCCIPITAL LOBE?

The occipital lobes are one of the four main lobes or regions of the cerebral cortex in the brain.

They sit at the back of the brain and are responsible for processing images.

Visual sensory information is seen by the retina and passed to the lobes, which then process the images sothe person can decode what they are looking at.

Changes in brain lobes and small 2x2x2mm voxels inside the lobes can be measured using fMRI scans.

fMRI is based on the same technology as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that uses magnetic fields andradio waves to create detailed images of the body.

However, rather than creating images of organs and tissues, fMRI can track blood flow in the brain to detectareas of activity.

These changes in blood flow can help doctors understand more about how the brain works.

Functional MRI scans are traditionally used to measure changes in overall brain activity, yet the Dutchresearchers used the technology to zoom in on smaller, more specific regions, known as voxels, in theoccipital lobe.

These voxels are around 2x2x2 millimetres big and the occipital lobe is the part of the brain which reacts tovisual stimuli and processes what the eyes see through the retina.

Each participant was wired up to an fMRI scanner and shown the letters B, R, A, I, N and S on a screen infront of them.

The scientists were able to create a database of the specific changes that occurred in each person's brainafter each letter was shown, which highlighted how the brain visualised the different shapes.

These changes were run through a bespoke algorithm that had been designed to work in a similar way to howbrains build images of objects from the sensory information it receives.

The scientists were able to create a database, pictured, of the specific changes thatoccurred in a person's brain after each letter was shown. These changes were runthrough a bespoke algorithm designed to work in a similar way to how brains build

images of objects from the sensory information it receives

This image shows the changes that occurred in the brain when participants were shownthe letter B, left column, and all six letters, right column

This algorithm was able to convert the voxels, and their relevant changes, into image pixels, making it possibleto reconstruct a picture of what the person was looking at, at the time of the scan.

The model has been designed to compare letters, yet could be expanded for other imagery.

Marcel Van Gerven, co-author of the study 'Linear reconstruction of perceived images from human brainactivity' said that the algorithm is also capable of becoming more accurate the more times it is used and moredata it processes.

This experiment used information obtained from a selection of 1,200 voxels, yet van Gerven claims thealgorithm could also be used to reconstruct any image and his team is working on building more advancedmachines that can build images from 15,000 voxels.

This could include complex imagery such as a person's face.

During an interview with Wired, van Gerven did warn that this isn't exactly the same as reading a person'sthoughts and more work and understanding about how the brain processes internal images would need to becarried out before being able to decode thoughts.

Yet he added that if its discovered the brain reacts to imagination in the same way it reacts to physical visualstimuli then mind-reading would be possible, potentially leading to so-called telepathic computer programs.

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A team from Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands .......................enough said

- Red Tick Alert , Arnhem, Netherlands, 24/8/2013 19:00

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aluminum foil hats will be the next trend (aka signs).

- stevesjeep , newern, United States, 24/8/2013 16:37

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There won't be much to read in the average DM reader/UKIP voter mind.

- Guto Nythbran 44 , Roving, 24/8/2013 13:18


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This was always something I worried about when I was a kid. Scary!!!

- wobbles , West Yorkshire, 24/8/2013 12:25


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This is not new , It has been around for 30+ years .Popular Mechanics has ran story's about this technology a few dozen times it hasbeen in the news many times .Remember the Stealth Bomber and how we all thought it was new ?? it was obsolete when theyshowed it to us and this is no different .Just do a Search for it . No one Reads anymore and if they do its not about anything of value. Thats how we get into the spot were in with the Government . Sad so vary sad

- oldlites4u , loganville, United States, 24/8/2013 00:02


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They'll probably come up with a LOT of blanks!

- DrMallard , West Palm Beach FL USA, 23/8/2013 23:31


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Another step to Orwell's vision of the future. Eventually the government will use this to determine who is committing "Crime Think".

- USArtguy , Midwest, 23/8/2013 23:11


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I think a lot of this new brain science is quackery at worst, shoddy at best. Beware. Be skeptical. Don't take these studies andjudgments at face value, or even as scientifically valid.

- jordan , potomac, United States, 23/8/2013 22:49


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If you get hooked up to one of these, make sure you imagine spelling out "Take this thing off and go away"!

- GKJ , UK, 23/8/2013 19:36


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Eventually they will bring down the noise and increase the resolution thereby showing thoughts in real-time in 4K. Wonder how longit will be before someone hooks it all up to a guy on DMT or something...

- DarkStarAz , Phoenix, 23/8/2013 18:57


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Could We Soon Be Reading People's MINDS