Mind readers have competition from California scientists

William Atkins
Sunday, 09 March 2008 19:14

Science - Biology

In the results, they divide the visual cortex into small cubes and then create a mathematical model to represent how the brain responds to different features. For instance, a cube might be designated as any shape that involves circles.

Then, the two subjects looked at 120 new images so the other researchers could try to determine, or predict, which one the subjects had been looking at earlier.

Finally, the subjects viewed the same second set of images while being scanned by the fMRI. Then, the researchers attempt to match the images to see which pair is most similar.

Their attempt to decipher the brain was correct 92 percent of the time for Naselaris (110 images out of 120) and 72 percent of the time for Kay (86 out of 120).

Mathematically, the scientists should have been able to “blind-guess” the correct answer in only 8 out of 1,000 tries, or 0.8 percent of the time.

Gallant stated, “We simply look through the list of predicted activities to see which one is most similar to the observed activity, and that's our guess.” [ScienceNow: “Seeing Through the Mind's Eye”]

The researchers caution, however, that the technique cannot presently reconstruct what someone has actually seen, only to identify photographs from a known set.

However, they forecast that some time in the future, scientists should be able to read one’s mind with respect to dreams and memories.