Scientists have used brain scanners to detect and reconstruct the faces that people are thinking of, according to a a study accepted for publication this month in the journal NeuroImage.

We know what you’re thinking: Scientists find a way to read minds

FoxNews.com
  • Mind reading 2b.jpg

    Scientists have used brain scanners to detect and reconstruct the faces that people are thinking of, a scientific achievement that could someday lead to a dream-recorder. (ALAN COWEN)

  • Mind reading 2.jpg

    Scientists have used brain scanners to detect and reconstruct the faces that people are thinking of, a scientific achievement that could someday lead to a dream-recorder. (ALAN COWEN)

  • Mind reading 2c.jpg

    Scientists have used brain scanners to detect and reconstruct the faces that people are thinking of, a scientific achievement that could someday lead to a dream-recorder. (ALAN COWEN)

  • Mind reading 1.jpg

    Scientists have used brain scanners to detect and reconstruct the faces that people are thinking of, a scientific achievement that could someday lead to a dream-recorder. (ALAN COWEN)

Think mind reading is science fiction?

Think again.

Scientists have used brain scanners to detect and reconstruct the faces that people are thinking of, according to a a study accepted for publication this month in the journal NeuroImage.

In the study, scientists hooked participants up to an fMRI brain scanner – which determines activity in different parts of the brain by measuring blood flow – and showed them images of faces. Then, using only the brain scans, the scientists were able to create images of the faces the people were looking at.

“It is mind reading,” said Alan S. Cowen, a graduate student at the University of California Berkeley who co-authored the study with professor Marvin M. Chun from Yale and Brice A. Kuhl from New York University.

‘You can even imagine, way down the road, a witness to a crime might want to come in and reconstruct a suspect’s face.’

– Alan S. Cowen, a graduate student at the University of California Berkeley

The study says it is the first to try to reconstruct faces from thoughts. The photos above are the actual photos and reconstructions done in the lab.

While the reconstructions based on 30 brain readings are blurry, they approximate the true images. They got the skin color right in all of them, and 24 out of 30 reconstructions correctly detected the presence or absence of a smile.

http://www.foxnews.com/science/2014/03/28/know-what-youre-thinking-scientists-find-way-to-read-minds/

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