The knowledgeable imaginings of our mind are exactly that – knowledgeable . We have no idea what others may ormay notsee in theirmind ’s eye . But now , scientists have developed a path to interpret these mental delineation by looking at brain wave practice .
In a report issue inCommunications Biology , researchers from Osaka University tweaked exist electrocorticogram technology – which detects electric activity in the brain – to charm hoi polloi ’s brain wave as they mentally pictured an image . They were then able to check what the participants were think , even when they were looking at something else .
“ Attention is make love to inflect neural representation of perceived images , ” lead source Ryohei Fukuma say in astatement .
“ However , we did n’t know whether imagining a different image could also change these internal representation . ”
The participant – nine epilepsy patient who already had electrode fitted in their brains – were shown simulacrum while being instruct to see something else completely , such as a facial expression , word , or landscape .
investigator could then record the electric bodily process in their psyche in real - time using the electrocorticogram technique . They found a pronounced distinction between the opine image and the see paradigm .
“ The results elucidate the kinship between brain bodily process when people look at image versus when they reckon them , ” older generator Takufumi Yanagisawa add up .
“ The electrocorticogram readout of the imagined images were distinct from those provoke by the actual image viewed by the affected role . They could also be modify to be even more distinct when the patients received real - time feedback . ”
The time it take to distinguish the viewed and imagined image differ when player depict a word or a landscape , perhaps due to the dissimilar region of the brain where these two things are imagined .
The new discovery take the possibility of psyche - indication , or at least mind ’s eye reading , a small closer . For the immense majority of people who have the power to picture things in their minds , at least . Around 2 percent of people areaphantasic , which means they miss the power to do so . ( And if that spoil your intellect , there are people who haveno internal monologueeither . )
The technology could , the authors trust , be developed as a communication gimmick for people with palsy . For sufferers of amyotrophic sidelong sclerosis ( ALS ) , who rely on communicating devices that necessitate some motor control condition to function , for example , this could be a plot - auto-changer .
