Science moves a step closer to mind reading
Scanner measuring blood flow can 'read' spatial memories
March 12, 2009
Reuters.
LONDON - Scientists have shown for the first time that it may be possible to "read"
a person's mind simply by looking at brain activity.
Using a modern scanner to measure blood flow, British researchers said on
Thursday they were able to tell where volunteers were located within a computer-
generated virtual reality environment.
"Surprisingly, just by looking at the brain data we could predict exactly where they
were," Eleanor Maguire of the Wellcome Trust Center for Neuroimaging at
University College London told reporters.
"In other words, we could 'read' their spatial memories."
The discovery opens up the possibility of developing machines to read a range of
memories, although Maguire said the risk of "intrusive" mind reading was still a
long way off.
Instead, she believes the discovery, reported in the journal Cell Biology, will help
research into memory disorders such as Alzheimer's by shedding light on how the
hippocampus region of the brain records memories.
Maguire and colleagues used a technology known as functional magnetic
resonance imaging, or fMRI, which highlights brain regions as they become active.
By scanning the brains of people as they played a virtual reality computer game
they were able to measure the activity of certain neurons in the hippocampus, a
region known to be critical for navigation and memory.
The research paves the way for analyzing how other thoughts — including fuller
memories of the past or visualizations of the future — are encoded across neurons.
That could eventually mean using fMRI for forensic examination of a whole host of
memories and thoughts, opening up a potential ethical can of worms.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29666474/#storyContinued
Scanner measuring blood flow can 'read' spatial memories
March 12, 2009
Reuters.
LONDON - Scientists have shown for the first time that it may be possible to "read"
a person's mind simply by looking at brain activity.
Using a modern scanner to measure blood flow, British researchers said on
Thursday they were able to tell where volunteers were located within a computer-
generated virtual reality environment.
"Surprisingly, just by looking at the brain data we could predict exactly where they
were," Eleanor Maguire of the Wellcome Trust Center for Neuroimaging at
University College London told reporters.
"In other words, we could 'read' their spatial memories."
The discovery opens up the possibility of developing machines to read a range of
memories, although Maguire said the risk of "intrusive" mind reading was still a
long way off.
Instead, she believes the discovery, reported in the journal Cell Biology, will help
research into memory disorders such as Alzheimer's by shedding light on how the
hippocampus region of the brain records memories.
Maguire and colleagues used a technology known as functional magnetic
resonance imaging, or fMRI, which highlights brain regions as they become active.
By scanning the brains of people as they played a virtual reality computer game
they were able to measure the activity of certain neurons in the hippocampus, a
region known to be critical for navigation and memory.
The research paves the way for analyzing how other thoughts — including fuller
memories of the past or visualizations of the future — are encoded across neurons.
That could eventually mean using fMRI for forensic examination of a whole host of
memories and thoughts, opening up a potential ethical can of worms.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29666474/#storyContinued
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