Isn’t it so amazing how technology is growing so fast that even the impossible is getting possible now?

Scientists have reached a level where now even mind-reading seems possible. Not just seems but also, such devices have been brought into existence today.

Let us find out furthermore about these mind reading devices and how they work too.

1. What are Mind Reading Devices?

Mind-reading devices are used to find out the mental state of a person creating an environment for human and computer interaction. This is done by using various devices to finally conclude what is the current state of the person under surveillance. 

This task would have been nearly impossible to even think of a long time ago. But now the scenario has changed. Since the time science and technology have come together to give us some incredible discoveries and innovations.

The basic idea of mind-reading devices is that they take inputs of human expressions as well as their behavior. Then make the connection between human and computer systems to compute those expressions into feelings and nowadays even in words too.

All this sounds strange to hear but all this is possible now. And this is what we are going to discuss next how do these mind-reading devices work?

2. How Do They Work?

Mind-reading devices works and evaluates the result based on brain waves and electrical signals that are produced by the brain cells.

They are used to interpret these signals and manipulate them into the result. That is, the mental state of the person such as disturbing, anxious, depressed, excited, joyful, and more.

Advanced technologies such as “Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy“ (FNIRS) are used to process these signals.

Further, convert them into meaningful information and control the thought processes of humans. 

FNIRS takes into account the quantity of blood and oxygen level in the human brain. People with the headgear on are asked to perform some tasks to check up on their brain functioning at the moment.

These tasks are basic and involve questions such as calculation and more. The light embedded in the head gears gets absorbed by the tissues present inside the human head to become active.

Next, the MRI scans are performed and gets combined with the tests to present the results of the whole experiment.  

The system of mind-reading involves the following steps:

• Facial Action Coding System (FACS) is used to record facial expressions considering eye movements to find out the person’s mood or mental state. This is done to support the eye language interpreter.
• Intentionality Detector (ID), Eye-Direction Detector (EDD), Shared Attention Mechanism (SAM), and Theory of Mind Mechanism (ToMM) are the components that are involved in mind-reading.
• Further to activate the eye language interpreter Automated Facial Feature Analysis is required to be called which is not fully developed.

You have got a clear idea about the working of mind-reding devices. Now let us look at some mind-reading devices.

3. Some of the Mind Reading Devices

Before talking about these devices let us first talk a bit related to the technologies that are being used in the successful working of mind-reading devices.

3.1. Mind Reading technologies are:

3.1.1. Chips

Chips are microprocessors that are connected to the system known as “neurocomputers” which consists of “Artificial Intelligence” <span data-preserver-spaces=”true”>(AI).

It is the technology for controlling persons’ thought processes and their movements to collect data related to sensory information.

For processing this kind of experiment knowledge of neurons, that is, Neural Engineering and biometrical technology, that is, Biometric Microelectronic Systems is needed.

3.1.2. Futuristic Head-gears

Futuristic Head-gears as discussed before in the previous section describe how it considers the quantity of blood and oxygen level in FNIRS.

Likewise, the process of its calculation involves how much light that is released from the head gears, gets deflected instead of absorbed by the human head.

This further concludes the need for metabolic sense in the brain.

As discussed, chips are attached to the head for further communication between the human brain and computer systems for storing data. 

3.1.3. Neuralink

Neuralink announced by Elon Musk is a brain-machine interface for the communication between human and computer systems.

Although this is supposed to be very efficient than other methods. This is an under-development technology, which might come up as a mind-reading future. 

3.1.4. Artificial Intelligence

Using Artificial Intelligence (AI), the electrodes are used to translate the waves of brain into the words on a machine computer.

That might come more handy in the future to help out people with a lack of speaking ability or paralyze. Recently a study to convert these brain signals into the sound of speech is in process.

In which the attempt to decode a way to implement the natural process of our brain of converting thoughts into vocal tract is being tried.

This under-developed project is being worked on in California, San Francisco University.

3.2. Mind Reading Devices:

3.2.1. Epoc+

The EEG (electroencephalogram) process is used to capture the brain waves through Epoc+ head-gears.

They were launched by EMOTIVE which supports the marketing department in the businesses by supporting marketing research.

That involves the survey from people by just making them wear the head-gears, collecting data from the brain waves, and interpreting them into emotions and feelings.

This helps in understanding the exact emotions of a person at the moment and not just relying vaguely on what they say.

3.2.2. Mind-ball

Again this is based on head-gears and EEG (electroencephalogram) too, which is used to capture the electrical signals through head-gear sensors from the brain.

All this is done by asking the person to perform a game called “mind ball“.

In which two opponents sit opposite each other and next they try to move the ball placed between them through their minds.

This requires a high-level concentration to do so. 

In this people need to focus hard and try to control their thought process to turn them into actions and move the ball.

In other words, it converts electrical signals into physical actions.

So these devices have been used as an experiment so far.

Now we will be looking into case studies. That will give us an idea of how much has been achieved so far in this mind-reading field.

4. Case Study

We now have knowledge related to mind-reading devices, technology, and how it works.

Let us now look into a case study where such a mind-reading device is used on paralyzed patients.

So that it can help them communicate again without using any body part but just the brain. 

Although it is a very difficult task to carry out, scientists have been successful in doing so through science and technology.

Such case studies we are going to discuss.

4.1. Strenode – the Mind Reading Device Implanted in U.S. Patient 

Strenode is the mind-reading device produced by Synchron which is Brooklyn based. They have already implanted the strenode in 4 Australian patients.

They were suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and the experiment was proven to be successful.

This was done to help the paralyzed patients communicate via mind-reading. 

Process:

The stent-like system implanted in the veins permanently reaches the motor cortex inside the brain to catch the neuro signals telling the person’s intentions at the moment.

Then, microsystem is installed in the patient’s chest to collect the signals through Synchron’s Brain OS platform.

After that, these received signals are then converted into strokes on a device like a computer.

For the formation of the word, an eye tracker is used to analyze the eye movements to control the cursor on the computer system.

Result:

It was found that the patients were able to write the words with 90% of accuracy without word predictive technology use and controlled the cursor well. This was a great achievement.  

For the first time, they implanted the strenode in a U.S. patient that require no cutting or drilling of the skill, that is, open-brain surgery.

Instead, it takes approx. just two hours of effort in implanting the device through minimally invasive surgery.

Moreover artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) algorithms are used to translate the brain waves into machine language, that is, commands.

For more click here.

Let us move on to the next case study, which will show how a new device that is implanted into a patient helps in communicating differently than strenode.

4.2. Mind Reading Device – Translates Even Over Noisy-Channels

This new mind-reading device was implanted in the first patient who was paralyzed and unable to speak or move.

At the age of 20, he lost his abilities and then at the age of 36, he came up as a participant in the BRAVO trial and test. In which, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) phonetic alphabets are used instead of normal English Alphabets. Such as “alpha” stands for “A”, “bravo” for “B”, similarly “Charlie” for “C”, and furthermore.

Aim:

This was done to remove the noisy channel constraint that was causing trouble in the efficient and accurate translation of electrical signals into letters.

To troubleshoot this problem finally the code words were put up by NATO that came to be known as “NATO phonetic alphabets”.

Process:

Once the patient remembers the NATO code word, the process is simple and easy to learn. The patient just needs to speak the code words into their mind and the mind-reading machine itself will experience and record the change in activity of your brain.

And then, it will try to decode electrical signals using algorithms to give a letter that the patient thought of.

Further, as the word forms and the system recognizes it put space between the words.

Lastly, the squeezing of the right hand denotes the end of a sentence to the device. This is how this process works.

Result:

The test resulted in 29.4 characters output per minute which was approx.

 7 words per minute. This was decoded from the vocabulary of not just 1150 words but more.

The median error rate of this decoding device was approx. 6.13%.

This was far better than the previous test in which the accuracy rate was between 75% to 93% in which direct words were predicted by the device instead of letters from the vocabulary of only 50 words.

This ends our discussion on mind-reading devices and how they work. Case studies of such devices being used on the patients.

Lastly it’s time to see what could be the future aspect of this technology. How will it affect the world and humans?

5. What’s the Future of Mind Reding Devices?

Mind-reading devices are the future of technology and science without any doubt.

The way scientists are moving forward in the direction of making these devices more and more accurate and efficient is just incredible!

Mind-reading existed always just the form was different, that is, a magic trick.

The magicians used to read the mind of the viewers and find out what to answer to their hidden questions.

But it was just a gist of mind reading. That trick is always used to blow the audience’s mind. 

Although no one ever thought that time this could become so useful and turn into a device to help out needful people to communicate.

This innovation is still under-development and being furnished every other time it is tested.

Soon these devices will also be available in the market to help patients talk to people without complications.

For Instance:

We all know “Stephen Hawkins“ and how he dealt with his situation.

The way he did not leave hope and tried out every possibility to be able to talk again is the biggest motivation to all the people facing similar issues.

Science and technology had grown a lot since then. When he was talking through his mind, he displayed his thoughts on the computer screen before him. Why not this could be taken to the next level now?

This innovation is changing the lives of people and giving them new lifestyles providing them the ability to communicate and express their feelings and thoughts to the world.

The mind-reding devices will be one of the best innovations in science and technology.

6. Final Note

You see how mind-reading devices are such an incredible innovation. It gives a paralyzed person the superpower to communicate through their mind.

This technology is getting more efficient and accurate day by day. And soon will get successful enough to be launched in the market for use instead of just trial and runs.

Humankind is developing so smart that these innovations are opening up opportunities for all to live their lives to the fullest like others.

Such innovations and discoveries are the ones that need to be supported by different organizations and governments.

Science is growing at the speed of light and so does the technology. That is why when they come together such incredible devices come into existence.

The future seems bright for the people who need this device for communication and to live happy expressing lives .

Last Updated on November 20, 2023 by ayeshayusuf