Thought activated computers planned

LONDON - Researchers are working on futuristic, thought activated computers that would help you dictate letters and browse the net.

Preliminary tests by Intel’s researchers have shown that the computer can figure out words you are thinking by matching them with the brain patterns they evoke.

Dean Pomerleau, senior researcher at Intel Lab, said that the devices required to get sufficient detail of brain activity were bulky, expensive magnetic resonance scanners found in hospitals, reports the Telegraph.

But he said work was under way to reduce equipment size that can be worn as headsets and can produce similar details. “The computer uses a form of 20 questions to narrow down what the word is.”

“So a noun with a physical property such as spade, which you dig with, produces activity in the motor cortex of the brain, as this is the area that controls physical movements,” he said.

“A food related word like apple, however, produces activity in those parts of the brain related to hunger. So the computer can infer attributes to each word being thought about and this lets the computer zero down on what the word is pretty quickly,” he said.

“We are currently mapping out the activity that an average brain produces when thinking about different words. It means you’ll be able to write letters, open emails or do Google searches just by thinking,” he said.

Intel already have a working prototype that can detect words such as screwdriver, house and barn, by measuring around 20,000 points in the brain.

But as brain scanning technology becomes more sophisticated, the computer’s ability to distinguish thoughts will improve.

Justin Ratner, director of Intel Lab and the company’s chief technology officer, said: “Mind reading is the ultimate user interface. There will be concerns about privacy with this sort of thing and we will have to overcome them.”

“What is clear though is that humans are not restricted any more to just using keyboards and mouse,” he said.