CMU 'mind reading' program breakthrough

Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed brain imaging technology that can identify complex thoughts, such as'The witness shouted during the trial.' The'mind reading' technology shows that complex thoughts are formed by the brain's various sub-systems, and are not word-based. The study offers new evidence that the brain dimensions of concept representation are universal across people and languages. Predicted (top) and observed (bottom) fMRI brain activation patterns for the sentence'The witness shouted during the trial.' The study, led by Carnegie Mellon University Professor of Psychology Dr Marcel Just, revealed that to process sentences such as'The witness shouted during the trial,' the brain uses an alphabet of 42 'meaning components' or'semantic features' consisting of features such as person, setting size, social interaction and physical action.