By Euro Weekly News Media • Published: 24 May 2011 • 9:09
A MACHINE that ‘reads minds’ could soon be a reality. Scientists are now able to decode brain signals related to vision. Six volunteers were showed images of people’s faces displaying different emotions including happiness, fear and surprise. Parts of the images were randomly covered so that only parts of the face were visible and participants asked to identify the emotion while electrodes attached to the scalp measured their brainwaves.
There was a significant variance in brainwave activity depending on which part of the face was being looked at.
Active thinking ‘beta’ waves were recorded when looking at eyes, while the more relaxing ‘theta’ waves were linked to the mouth.
“It is a bit like unlocking a scrambled television channel. Before, we could detect the signal but could not watch the content, now we can,” explained Professor Philippe Schyns from the University of Glasgow.
“What we have done is to find a way of decoding brainwaves to identify the messages within.”
Share this story
Subscribe to our Euro Weekly News alerts to get the latest stories into your inbox!
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don't already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Share your story with us by emailing newsdesk@euroweeklynews.com, by calling +34 951 38 61 61 or by messaging our Facebook page www.facebook.com/EuroWeeklyNews
By signing up, you will create a Euro Weekly News account if you don’t already have one. Review our Privacy Policy for more information about our privacy practices.
Download our media pack in either English or Spanish.