I was hopeful until the last 2 lines

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Scientists Create Machine That Knows

What You Are Thinking

By Fiona MacRae. http://tinyurl.com/22q7ox

Scientists have developed a machine which is capable of reading

our mind and revealing our most private thoughts.

American researchers from Carnegie Mellon University in

Pittsburgh, found that, with the aid of a sophisticated scanner and

computer programme, they were able to determine how the brain lights

up when thinking about different subjects.

Using an advanced form of MRI scanner, they analysed how the

brain reacted to ten drawings of tools and buildings.

They then used a computer programme to work out whether a

person was thinking about a tool or a building.

The researchers' analysis was found to be 97 per cent accurate

but they went on to show that they could distinguish between two

similar objects, such as two different tools, almost as successfully.

This is the first time the technique has been finetuned to

distinguish between similar objects.

The brain scans also showed many different brain regions are

involved in processing information even in the case of something as

simple as a line drawing of a hammer.

Thinking about how a hammer is used activated the areas

involved in movement, while thinking about the shape of a hammer and

what it is used for lit up other regions.

Despite being limited to picking up the thoughts behind just

ten pictures, the researchers are confident that they will soon be

able to identify entire sentences.

One of the team, Dr Svetlana Shinkareva, said: " We hope to

progress to identifying the thoughts associated not just with

pictures but also with words and eventually sentences. "

The technique could also have medical applications by, for

example, providing valuable insights into conditions such as autism.

Study leader Professor Marcel Just said: " People with autism

perceive others in a distinctive way that has been difficult to

characterise.

" This approach offers a way to discover that characterisation. "

The study, published in the journal PLoS ONE, also showed that

different people think about the same thing in the same way.

" This part of the study establishes, as never before, that

there is a commonality in how different people's brains represent the

same subject, " the study said.

" There has always been a philosophical conundrum as to whether

one person's perception of the colour blue is the same as another

person's.

" Now we see that there is a great deal of commonality across

different people's brain activity corresponding to familiar tools and

dwellings. "

The device's possibilities can, however, be extended and the

team envisage a time when it will be used to conduct infallible lie

detector tests, while the accurate interpretation of a person's

intentions could allow police to arrest criminals before they break

the law, as seen in the film Minority Report.