New upcoming technology will be capable of interpreting words like they are thought, instead of present brain controlled computers in which users have to use physical movements to control a cursor on a screen.

Scientists of Intel are coming up with detailed maps of the activity in brain for individual words that can be matched with the activity of a brain of someone using computer, it will allow the machine to determine the word of which they are thinking.

First tests of the systems have shown that the computer is able to work out words by seeing at similar patterns of brain and looking for key difference which suggests what the word might be. Accoding to Dean Pomerleau, a senior researcher at the laboratories of Intel, the devices needed to get sufficient information of brain activity were bulky and costly magnetic resonance scanners such as those used in hospitals.

But he also said, work was under construction to produce smaller pieces of equipment which can be worn as headsets and which can also produce same level of information. According to him computer uses form of 20 questions to know what the word is.

A working prototype by measuring 20,000 points in the brain which can detect words like screwdriver, house, and barn is already with Intel. Justin Ratner, director of Intel Laboratories 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 mice”.


Written by: josh, who runs a website about Tech News