How often do you wish you knew what鈥檚 on someone鈥檚 mind?
Researchers at the University of Toronto are trying to make mind-reading a reality, by using electroencephalography (EEG) and artificial intelligence.
Adrian Nestor, a psychology professor, and Dan Nemrodov, a postdoctoral fellow, have been able to digitally reconstruct images their test subjects were looking at while hooked up to EEG machines.
In the study, participants looked at a series of faces on a computer screen while the EEG machines recorded their brain activity. An algorithm was then used to process the EEG data and decode what the subjects were looking at in order to re-create the images of the faces.
researchers were able to consistently re-create the images participants were looking at, although there is 鈥渜uite a bit of variability鈥� in how those images were decoded, Nestor told CTV鈥檚 Your Morning on Thursday.
That variability was attributed to the fact that people are 鈥渜uite different from each other鈥� and have different perceptions of the images in front of them. The images re-created from the test subjects鈥� brainwaves are coloured by personal biases and the particular facial features the participants focused on, Nestor said.
The researchers say their mind-reading technique could be applied to the broader population in the future.
鈥淭he possibilities are quite interesting,鈥� Nestor told Your Morning.
He said the technique could potentially be used to develop a potential image of a suspect in a criminal investigation, based on eyewitness recollection. Or, it could be used to communicate with patients who aren鈥檛 able to verbally express themselves.
Nestor said it鈥檚 important to note that the mind-reading technique requires the participants鈥� full co-operation. And in the future, any use of the technique must require informed consent.
