What's on your mind?

A computer that can read your mind? This isn't going to end well...

Boffins at the University of California have worked out a technique that makes it possible to read a person's mind by using a computer.

According to the Telegraph, they claim that one day they will be able to record dreams or enable police to identify criminals by recalling the memories of a witness.

Neurologists at the university claim to have matched patterns of activity in the brain with static images seen by the person, and now say it is possible to "decode" these signals.

The experiment used functional magnetic resonance imaging technology to scan the brains of two patients as they watched videos, linking patterns of activity in the visual cortex of their brains with movement and colours in the footage.

This gave a blurry 'mind's eye' version of the footage of the films the patients were watching. Boffins at University College London using separate tests claim they can detect, with an accuracy of about 50 per cent, memories recalled by patients. Which face it is a lot more than most people can remember on their own.

Behind the scenes with Mass Effect 3! GTX 560 VGA round-up! Essential Skyrim tweaks to improve your game! Plus reviews, news, hardware, more games, and easy to following modding guides for PC builders. ON SALE NOW!

Ads by Google

9 Comments

LordBug Nov 3, 2009 12:45 PM	Hooray, finally! I've dreamt of this tech ever since I was a wee widdle kinder. Now, lets see if we can turn this news article into a two hundred thousand odd reply monstrosity ;P
robzy Nov 3, 2009 1:28 PM	WOYM is back! :P Rob.
orcone Nov 3, 2009 1:56 PM	I don't think it's wise to broadcast my mental images.
brumby92 Nov 3, 2009 4:39 PM	sex sex sex beer video games sex and computers. Great invention!
Splinter277 Nov 3, 2009 7:22 PM	I think Asimov did a story on this... It decided that because it couldn't hurt people, it would only tell them what they wanted to hear... The scientists detroyed the robot. (Surprise?)
Hubbo Nov 3, 2009 8:00 PM	This has actually been in the works for some time... Some guys in Japan having been doing this also (perhaps in junction???). When I read about it they were talking about only able to receive 10x10 pixel black and white pictures. It was quite promising because it involved non-invasive reading of brain signals (as opposed to putting probes in the actual brain!).
sUpEr gEEk Nov 3, 2009 8:01 PM	I wonder what it would show for Hawkeye at the Power to the Pc Sydney Event he admitted the number 69 was on his mind. Lols
cyb3rspy Nov 4, 2009 8:44 AM	lol @ sUpEr gEEk to true..i wonder too.
scathach Nov 4, 2009 2:54 PM	Wasn't there A sci-fi story written about professional dreamers that were hooked up to brain-wave recording devices and the recorded dreams were sold like a movie? What a dream job, you can sleep on the job and not get in trouble with the Boss :) ...any vacancies for "professional dreamer - bizarre and disturbing dream genre"?

Comments have been disabled on this article.

Latest Competitions

Thermaltake kicks off your gaming year with a BANG
Thermaltake has started off the new year with a bang by giving away a Tt eSport Theron Laser mouse to not one or two, but TWENTY lucky Atomicans!

Atomic Magazine

Issue: 133 | February, 2012

Atomic is a magazine aimed squarely at computer enthusiasts, gamers, and serious PC upgraders.

Every month we bring you the latest reviews of new technology and PC components, in depth features on everything from overclocking to console hacking, and gaming previews and interviews.

What's in this issue?