Thursday, March 28, 2024
Contact    |    RSS icon Twitter icon Facebook icon  
Unexplained Mysteries
You are viewing: Home > News > Science & Technology > News story
Welcome Guest ( Login or Register )  
All ▾
Search Submit

Science & Technology

Scientists use machine to read minds

By T.K. Randall
March 30, 2014 · Comment icon 20 comments

Can a machine really read your mind ? Image Credit: CC 2.0 Andrew Mason
A new technique is able to see and accurately reconstruct images directly from a person's mind.
Researchers at Yale University conducted an experiment in which the brains of 30 volunteers were scanned using an MRI scanner while they were browsing through a selection of 300 photographs of people's faces.

Using nothing more than the neural activity data from the scans, the team was able to then reconstruct the specific faces that each volunteer was thinking about. The results were nothing if not remarkable with the reconstructed faces consistently bearing a close resemblance to the actual photographs.
"It is mind reading," said graduate student Alan S. Cowen. "You can see how people perceive faces depending on different disorders, like autism - and use that to help diagnose therapies."

Despite the success of the technique however there is still a long way to go before such a system could retrieve any memories you wanted from a person's mind.

"This sort of technology can only read active parts of the brain," said Cowen. "So you couldn't read passive memories - you would have to get the person to imagine the memory to read it."

Source: New York Daily News | Comments (20)




Other news and articles
Recent comments on this story
Comment icon #11 Posted by third_eye 10 years ago
I am already putting together the Undercurrent Resistance Council ~ I am not an image ~ ~
Comment icon #12 Posted by freetoroam 10 years ago
I am already putting together the Undercurrent Resistance Council ~ I am not an image ~ ~ your Alpha numerical code is ready, please collect from basement:
Comment icon #13 Posted by third_eye 10 years ago
Can I have mine about 6mm to the left ... to counteract my droopy eyelid and balanced out my handsomeness ~
Comment icon #14 Posted by Likely Guy 10 years ago
If this was closer to Apil 1st, I'd say B.S. Mmm. This is B.S.
Comment icon #15 Posted by TheGreatBeliever 10 years ago
Would be so scary to have funny fantasies by then
Comment icon #16 Posted by seeder 10 years ago
If this was closer to Apil 1st, I'd say B.S. Mmm. This is B.S. This is NOT BS! Dont you keep up with science and tech? It was already being touted in 2013, check the link Reading Minds: Brain Scans Create Pictures of What You See. August 26, 2013 http://www.livescience.com/39175-brain-scans-read-letters.html
Comment icon #17 Posted by regeneratia 10 years ago
I honestly do not believe this. READ, don't watch, "The Minority Report", by P. K. Dick, for a concept on how this research can be misused. His accuracy on the actions of our armed forces Generals is amazing as well.
Comment icon #18 Posted by DeWitz 10 years ago
Combine this technology with what we already know about 'Recovered Memory Syndrome,' and you have--at the very least-- a forensic Black Hole to contend with. Where is the assurance that either the original remembered face (or other attribute), or the electronic reconstruction, are dependable to establish anything "real." Eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable. Why reconstruct unreliable memories?
Comment icon #19 Posted by pallidin 10 years ago
seeder... that article is not entirely accurate at all. What actually happened is that the "reconstruction" was from a computer averaging of many subjects(I think 30, could be wrong) that created the end-result "image" The original, validated study, showed that individual images from the individuals were VERY grainy. Practically useless. That's why there was the computer compilation from the 30. Nonetheless, a great step forward.
Comment icon #20 Posted by JustTerri 10 years ago
I'd better keep my distance from it..


Please Login or Register to post a comment.


Our new book is out now!
Book cover

The Unexplained Mysteries
Book of Weird News

 AVAILABLE NOW 

Take a walk on the weird side with this compilation of some of the weirdest stories ever to grace the pages of a newspaper.

Click here to learn more

We need your help!
Patreon logo

Support us on Patreon

 BONUS CONTENT 

For less than the cost of a cup of coffee, you can gain access to a wide range of exclusive perks including our popular 'Lost Ghost Stories' series.

Click here to learn more

Top 10 trending mysteries
Recent news and articles