Machine Sees What You See

Posted on April 25, 2005

New Scientist reports that a new machine can read people's mind to a certain extent. The machine was able to determine which patterns of parallel lines a person was looking at by analyzing their brain activity. New Scientist explains:

The pair showed patterns of parallel lines in 1 of 8 orientations to four volunteers. By focusing on brain regions involved in visual perception they were able to recognise which orientation the subjects were observing.
Each line orientation corresponded to a different pattern of brain activity, although the patterns were different in each person. What is more, when two sets of lines were superimposed and the subjects were asked to focus on one set, the researchers could work out which one they were thinking of from the brain images.

If this technology can be advanced to the point where images can be read it might be a huge breakthrough -- with scary implications for one's privacy. However, it might just mean they are able to determine what someone is seeing as the input comes into their brain -- and not necessarily what they are thinking or how they are interpreting the object they are looking at.

THE MIND