Mind-reading is a human ability that exists only in fiction, well, because it is way beyond the ordinary psychic power. But now, science just made mind-reading happen – at least at some level.
A device has been made by Toyohashi University of Technology in Japan to make reading people’s minds possible in the near future.
As the people spoke, an electroencephalogram (EEG) was used to monitor their brain waves. Using machine learning, these waves were matched to the syllables and numbers.
Source: Toyohashi University of Technology
In a statement, it said that the researchers had developed a technology that can recognize the numbers zero to nine with 90 per cent accuracy using brain waves, or electroencephalogram (EEG), while uttering the numbers.
“At the same time, 61 per cent accuracy in 18 Japanese monosyllable recognition was achieved, outperforming performance in previous research (humans have sufficient intelligibility of sentences with an 80 per cent monosyllable recognition rate),” it added.
This research stands out among other mind-reading researches because brain waves were successfully understood and translated into thoughts, a technology that was difficult to develop.
“Up until now, speech-decoding from EEG signals has had difficulty in collecting enough data to allow the use of powerful algorithms based on ‘deep learning’ or other types of machine learning.”
While this setup still needs the person to talk, the researchers are hopeful that they could develop a “brain-computer interface” which recognizes words directly from the mind without being spoken.
Nonetheless, this breakthrough is aimed to help people with locked-in syndrome, or the condition in which a patient is aware but cannot move or communicate verbally, to communicate, as well as handicapped people have lost the ability of voice-communication.
The researchers will try to make the mind-reading technology simpler by producing an “easily operated” device with a smartphone app. They said it could be ready in 5 years.
Source: The Independent UK
