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New technology will display your dreams on screen
By siliconindia
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Friday, 12 December 2008, 19:26 IST |
2 Comments
Tokyo: Imagine your mind's thoughts are displayed on a screen. Is it possible? The Japanese researchers who made this imagination a reality at the ATR Computer Neuroscience Laboratories claim that they have developed a technology that could eventually display on a computer screen what people have on their minds, such as dreams. The images are now can be processed and displayed directly from the human brain as per the new discovery.
Though the researchers now have managed to reproduce only simple images from the brain, they said the technology could eventually be used to figure out dreams and other secrets inside people's minds. It is the first time in the world that it is possible to visualize what people see directly from the brain activity. "By applying this technology, it may become possible to record and replay subjective images that people perceive like dreams," stated ATR Computer Neuroscience Laboratories.
When people look at an object, the eye's retina recognizes an image that is converted into electrical signals which go into the brain's visual cortex. The researchers have succeeded in catching the signals and then reconstructing what people see. During the study, the researchers showed people six letters in the word 'neuron' and the succeeded in reconstructing the letters on a computer screen by measuring their brain activity.
The team then figured out people's individual brain patterns by showing them some 400 different still images. Chief Researcher Yukiyasu Kamitani revealed that the team focused on the image recognition procedures in the retina of the human eye. They did so because the retina recognizes an image while looking at an object, converts it into electrical signals, and then sends them into the brain's visual cortex.
However, criticisms are being raised against such devices in Europe and U.S, as academics believe that this could be used by investigating agencies to invade into someone's privacy.