According to researchers at Carnegie Mellon University, they have developed a "mind-reading" computer which they say will lead to a better comprehension of how and where information in the brain in stored, and could possibly end up helping create better treatments for those with learning and language disabilities.
The process used was magnetic resonance imaging, which is used to identify brain activity in real-time. Volunteers were given a set of 58 words to think about as to what they meant and their properties.
Tom Mitchell of the Machine Learning Department, which lead the study said concerning the results, "If I show you the brain images for two words, the main thing you notice is that they look pretty much alike. If you look at them for a while you might see subtle differences.
"We believe we have identified a number of the basic building blocks that the brain uses to represent meaning. These building blocks could be used to predict patterns for any concrete noun."
After measuring the patterns of the volunteers for the 58 words, the researchers then inputed two new images and words into the computer, which it was able to put together correctly, after being asked to do so.
Mitchell said the next phase of the study will graduate to studying the measurement of phrases, and go beyond single-words only.
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