New Device Reads Minds Pretty Well (LiveScience)

[Prometheus The Supremo]

New Device Reads Minds Pretty Well

By LiveScience Staff

posted: 10 February 2009 08:29 am ET

Canadian researchers say they can glean simple preferences from a person's brain by shining near-infrared light into the noggin.

The study, reported in the Journal of Neural Engineering, demonstrated the ability to decode a person's preference for one of two drinks with 80 percent accuracy by measuring the intensity of near-infrared light absorbed in brain tissue, the scientists said in a statement today.

"This is the first system that decodes preference naturally from spontaneous thoughts," says Sheena Luu, a University of Toronto doctoral student in biomedical engineering who led the work under the supervision of Tom Chau, a specialist in pediatric rehab engineering at the university's Bloorview Kids Rehab center.

Near-infrared light has a longer wavelength than visible light. In the beginning of the study, nine adult volunteers rated eight drinks on a scale of one to five.

Then, wearing a headband fitted with fiber optics that emit light into the pre-frontal cortex of the brain, the subjects were shown two drinks on a computer monitor, one after the other, and asked to make a mental decision about which they liked more.

"When your brain is active, the oxygen in your blood increases and depending on the concentration, it absorbs more or less light," Luu said. "In some people, their brains are more active when they don't like something, and in some people they're more active when they do like something."

After teaching the computer to recognize the unique pattern of brain activity associated with preference for each subject, the researchers accurately predicted which drink the participants liked best 80 percent of the time.

Other research has suggested brain activity could be monitored before decisions are made, perhaps with a mind-reading hat that would predict what we'll do.

The goal of the new research is ultimately to open the world of choice to children who can't speak or move.

source

reminds me of:

the applications of such a device could be endless if they refine the accuracy of the device and make it so it is able to read many thoughts or brain patterns.

i see a problem though. say with the mind reading device, i would try to type this post to urban toronto with my mind. if in order to type, i had to think of a letter, when i would think of the letter "r" would the the part of my brain which is firing be the same throughout the english speaking population? would there be a universal reference point in the brain for the letter "r" ? i don't think there would be. i think each device would have to be tuned to an individual person's brain. the fact that when people have strokes that damage the brain soo bad that they can't walk and then with time other parts of the brain take over this (walking) function suggest that there will be differences in peoples' brains that this device will have to account for.

 

[afransen]

I'm not sure that is the biggest challenge. Having a device tune to each person is probably not the most difficult problem with this technology. It's fairly simple AI to learn (something cars' computers do already in the same sense). The trick is understanding how these signals are encoded.

 

[Hydrogen]

Canadian researchers say they can glean simple preferences from a person's brain by shining near-infrared light into the noggin.

The study, reported in the Journal of Neural Engineering, demonstrated the ability to decode a person's preference for one of two drinks with 80 percent accuracy by measuring the intensity of near-infrared light absorbed in brain tissue, the scientists said in a statement today.

Couldn't they just ask?

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

Couldn't they just ask?

of course but that's not the point. imagine a paralyzed person with a robotic suit which does the work of muscles and then having those artificial muscles being controlled by thought. in fact similar suits already exist but they only augment the capability of existing muscles; they are controlled by muscle movements. what is needed is a system which can compensate for muscles that don't work at all and a damaged peripheral/central nervous system.

 

[Hydrogen]

I know.

I was being funny.





Without success.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

I know.

I was being funny.





Without success.

sorry about that. i haven't been feeling too well. i hope i didn't brain my damage.

 

[Hydrogen]

Get well soon. Apparently that infrared brain reader gets your drink order mixed up if you're feeling like crap. You might end up with a Geratol martini or Malox margarita instead of the real thing.

 

[Prometheus The Supremo]

Get well soon. Apparently that infrared brain reader gets your drink order mixed up if you're feeling like crap. You might end up with a Geratol martini or Malox margarita instead of the real thing.

LOL! or a pepto bismalt!

 

[w.ll.am]

I was thinking this right away... gotta keep those eyes open so you'll tell us all you know!!!!