By Agence France-Presse
TOKYO — A Japanese research team said Thursday it had created a technology that could eventually display on a computer screen what people have on their minds, such as dreams.
Researchers at the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories succeeded in processing and displaying images directly from the human brain, they said in a study unveiled ahead of publication in the US magazine Neuron.
While the team for now has 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 was the first time in the world that it was possible to visualise what people see directly from the brain activity,” the private institute said in a statement.
“By applying this technology, it may become possible to record and replay subjective images that people perceive like dreams.”
When people look at an object, the eye’s retina recognises an image that is converted into electrical signals which go into the brain’s visual cortex.
The team, led by chief researcher Yukiyasu Kamitani, succeeded in catching the signals and then reconstructing what people see.
In their experiment, the researchers showed people the six letters in the word “neuron” and then succeeded in reconstructing the letters on a computer screen by measuring their brain activity.
The team said that it first figured out people’s individual brain patterns by showing them some 400 different still images.
4 Feedbacks on "Dreams no longer a secret with Japan computer screen"
Jeffrey Roden
This is a groundbreaking technology. However, if used without the consent of the subject, this can be a very invasive tool of oppression, control and manipulation. Any person or institution or agency, government or non-government, which utilizes this to invade the minds of unsuspecting individuals, should be meted heavy sanctions. In any event, in His eternal Wisdom, Justice and Righteousness, God shall deal with them.
JP
The day will come when nothing about a human being is a mystery. The more we understand about ourselves, the better we relate with one another.
Also, film making will not be as hard as it is today. You do not have to go to locations and shoot. You just have to connect the machine to your brain and imagine, right?
I also imagine a movie out of a person/s dreams.
Jaybee
A breakthrough, a wonderful technology ever made, this can be use a lot especially in justice system say in court proceedings or a person under investigation but of course it should always have strong implementaion of policies in it. I hope it will be use in a good side of it, unlike dynamites and guns originally invented for mining which in turn to be use for humans. At any rate, two thumbs up for Japan, big break for them.
rioriomd
this discovery is like a double-edged sword. i fear that it will be used to take advantage of other people later on, and to steal on others’ ideas. But it can be useful for research: to fathom how far a dream sequence can go, to pick up where the previous dream was interrupted, to search for new discoveries unknown before, to know if persons in vegetative states still have dreams, etc. its an exciting discovery, perhaps as exciting as the limitless cosmos or the invisible subatomic particles or the controversial utility of stem cells, but there should be proper precautions as to its uses.
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