Posted on 12/11/2008 11:53:51 PM PST by CE2949BB
A Japanese research team has revealed 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.
There was a movie with this concept in it... I think it was either Canadian or French.
If they used the machine on Obama, it would probably show
blank space.
I think the scene in Minority Report where the hacker who runs an arcade that plugs into your brain, did the same procedure to one of the Pre-Cognitives, comes to mind.
Heck, Professor Quatermass was doing this back in the ‘60s. :-)
dreams can be very strange. I wonder sometimes if past loved ones can communicate with us through our dreams.
Tell me about it, sometimes I think I can see things through other peoples eyes like far away, I think its called tele-viewing and supposed there actually are people that have that ability, so far as that the Cold War had programs of both the US and Russia trying to use it.
I always think of dreams as the subconscious taking a recess and playing, which I do believe it really does that.
I do believe dream are more than just dreams. They are subconscious. I believe they are a gateway with our loved ones and others quite frankly. I had a dream as a child. I vivdly remember the dream. I remember the dream as it played out. It was not de-ja-vu. I dreamed it the night before and it happened the next day exactly as I had dreamed
This is something I find fascinating, I would definitely like to see a recording of my dreams.
We used to have a german shepherd that would run and bark in its sleep.
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