http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/scientists-closer-to-knowing-what-were-thinking/story-e6frg6so-1226065208345
Scientists closer to knowing what we're thinking From: The Sunday Times May 30, 2011 12:00AM SCIENTISTS have found a way to "mind read", peering into the deepest recesses of the brain to watch words forming as people think and speak. Using networks of electrodes implanted into people's skulls, the researchers have located brain areas that generate the 40-odd sounds from which the English language is constructed. They found each sound had a unique signal that could be seen forming as subjects expressed them out loud or in their heads. The breakthrough could eventually allow scientists to translate people's thoughts into words, potentially allowing those with severe paralysis or other disabilities to speak via a computer. In a research paper, Eric Leuthardt, director of the Centre for Innovation in Neuroscience and Technology at Washington University, said his team had isolated signals corresponding to four of the 40 sounds. This was too few to translate thoughts into words or sentences, but the research established that this could become possible. "What it shows is that the brain is not the black box that we have philosophically assumed it to be for generations past," Dr Leuthardt said. "I'm not going to say that I can fully read someone's mind. I can't. But I have evidence now that it is possible." Dr Leuthardt and his colleagues based their research on four people suffering from severe epilepsy who had 64 electrodes implanted in their heads, on the surface of the brain, to try to find the causes of their fits. The arrays were also able to monitor the parts of the brain thought to generate language: the motor cortex, Wernicke's area and Broca's area. Dr Leuthardt was able to use them to search for the signals corresponding to the formation of sounds, known as phonemes. The subjects were asked repeatedly to make four of the sounds -- "oo", "ah", "eh" and "ee" -- while the scientists picked out the electrical signals. Since publishing his study in the Journal of Neural Engineering, Dr Leuthardt has taken the research further and picked out the signals corresponding to many more phonemes -- although this work has not yet been published. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Post message: prole...@egroups.com Subscribe : proletar-subscr...@egroups.com Unsubscribe : proletar-unsubscr...@egroups.com List owner : proletar-ow...@egroups.com Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: proletar-dig...@yahoogroups.com proletar-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: proletar-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
