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Scientists Build Mind-Reading Computer
An anonymous reader writes to tell us that researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have developed what they are calling a "mind reading computer." Using a panel of nine volunteers, the team built a "profile" of 58 test words based on brain scans taken while the volunteers were directed to think about the meaning of each test word. "'If I show you the brain images for two words, the main thing you notice is that they look pretty much alike. If you look at them for a while you might see subtle differences,' explains Tom Mitchell of the Machine Learning Department, which lead the study. 'We believe we have identified a number of the basic building blocks that the brain uses to represent meaning. These building blocks could be used to predict patterns for any concrete noun,' added Mitchell."
The list of words chosen were: funding, grant, tenure, award, patent, contract, ...
Intron: the portion of DNA which expresses nothing useful.
Now that a computer can read my mind I'm waiting for the mind-reading 'puter that knows to change the mouse focus when I look at a new window. I hate looking at one window while typing in another, especially when posting to /. while I have a window open with an email to my boss. It turns out he's not interested in the goatse link.
Hold on, just got handed this printout:
"Thank you, but we already knew you were going to say that.
Sincerely,
Your new mind-reading computer overlords."
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
That's an interesting idea. Do different words that mean the same in different languages light up the same areas of the brain when a person thinks about it? Would a Spanish person who is told to think of "coche", have a similar brain scan of an English person told to think of "car"?
What the CMU scientists have done is some preliminary brain imaging using MRI.
Here is a better CMU link with more details and pictures. The scientists hope that this research to could have applications in the study of autism, disorders of thought such as paranoid schizophrenia, and semantic dementias such as Pick's disease. Not once did they ominously dub their research as "mind reading" as claimed by the submitter.
Sure!
Here, would you please lie down while I slide you into this multi-tonne magnet. Thank you. Now, please lie very still and think about typing in your password, very slowly, one letter at a time. No more than one letter every ten seconds or so! Now please repeat a couple dozen times. Thank you for your cooperation.
I think it would be easier to just ask.
Quoting article:
"We believe we have identified a number of the basic building blocks that the brain uses to represent meaning. These building blocks could be used to predict patterns for any concrete noun..."
The implications of building blocks would suggest that the french word for "Desk" (bureau) would elicit the same response as the english word for "Desk", instead of some governmental unit.
That would be useful, (once we get cheap portable MRI hats).
However I doubt these building blocks are anywhere near that generic due to the excess emotional baggage that people associate with words. I suppose it might be able to detect the presence of such baggage even if it could not decipher it.
Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
I think the GP is onto something a little different than what the parent interpreted. Language may be an unnecessary step in this experiment.
If someone is thinking "gee - I would love a hamburger" in English - would their brain scan be the same as a French guy thinking the same? If you started at some basic level (hunger, thirst, anger, love, pain) is there a common denominator in all brain activity? If there is commonality, can we hope to someday eliminate language and have comms come straight from the source?