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British Researchers Claim They Can Read Minds Using Brain Scans

by Caleb Johnson on March 12, 2010 at 05:28 PM

According to an AFP report on Yahoo! News, a team of British scientists claim they can read our memories and thoughts by simply studying patterns in brain scans. Eleanor Maguire, who led the research at University College London, told AFP that her team could differentiate between memories and thoughts by using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). During the study, the scientists showed 10 participants three short films about daily life, and each starred a different actress. Then, the subjects were hooked up to an fMRI machine and were told to recall each film one at a time. Next, the team ran the subject's brain scans through a computer algorithm which distinguished patterns within the thoughts and memories of the subjects. Using these patterns, the scientists were able to predict which film a subject was thinking about.

Similar studies on the brain and memory have already been done. However, this research, which is similar to a study that used brain scan activity to communicate with patients in a vegetative state, is special because scientists were able to distinguish between specific episodes, or pinpoint episodic memory, rather than just look at spatial memory as a whole. [From: AFP/Yahoo! News]

Tags: brain, brain scan, fmriscans, memory, research, study, top

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