Research – Dream recording ‘possible’

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Writing in the journal Nature, researchers said they have developed a system capable of recording higher-level brain activity. “We would like to read people’s dreams,” says the lead scientist Dr Moran Cerf.

dream catcher reading dreams recordingDream Catching

For centuries, people have been fascinated by dreams and what they might mean; in ancient Egypt for example, they were thought to be messages from the gods. More recently, dream analysis has been used by psychologists as a tool to understand the unconscious mind. But the only way to interpret dreams was to ask people about the subject of their dreams after they had woken up.

The eventual aim of Dr Cerf’s project is to develop a system that would enable psychologists to corroborate people’s recollections of their dream with an electronic visualization of their brain activity.

“There’s no clear answer as to why humans dream,” according to Dr Cerf. “And one of the questions we would like to answer is when do we actually create this dream?”

Dr Cerf makes his bold claim based on an initial study that he says suggests that the activity of individual brain cells, or neurons, are associated with specific objects or concepts. Dr Cerf believes that sensor technology is developing at such a pace that eventually it might be possible to monitor brain activity in this way without invasive surgery. If this were to happen it would open up a range of possibilities.

“It would be wonderful to read people’s minds where they cannot communicate, such as people in comas,” said Dr Cerf.

There have been attempts to create machine interfaces before that aim to translate thoughts into instructions to control computers or machines.

But in the main these have tried to tap into areas of the brain involved in controlling movement. Dr Cerf’s system monitors higher level areas of the brain and can potentially identify abstract concepts.

“We can sail with our imaginations and think about all the things we could do if we had access to a person’s brain and basically visualise their thoughts.

“For example, instead of just having to write an email you could just think it. Or another futuristic application would be to think a flow of information and have it written in front of your eyes.

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Holte Ender

Holte Ender will always try to see your point of view, but sometimes it is hard to stick his head that far up his @$$.
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dustaz
12 years ago

This need to be invented asap coz lot’s of ideas are created within our brain in any time and we are unable to record it because of circumstances. In addition, a person spends a whole day drawing a picture, which I guess is a waste of time. We can use this time to do other tasks. This device will be a gateway to new and extraordinary arts. I have longed for this device. Before I knew about this I thought to build it myself that draws one’s dream. This will just change the world and may be possibility of living inside dream..and thus immortality.

13 years ago

I’m not sure I want other people seeing my dreams…They tend to be weird to the point of embarrassment.

Then again, I’m probably not the only WoW player out there that has had nightmares about being trapped in an instance I’ve been forced to run to exhaustion.

Eislos
Reply to  SadisticPretzel
11 years ago

So im not alone about dreaming about WoW..

Dreamed that i was riding a tiger mount in firstperson and my friend was riding a mount next to me through the desert.(best dream ever)

remember that I had been playing WoW for almost 2 days straight before I dreamed of this.

so now I can even play games in my dreams! 😀

13 years ago

I bet serial killers dream of flowery meadows.

Jess
13 years ago

Oooh, this is creepy if it could be taken to some extremes. Imagine having access to all the creeps in the world and their thoughts. No, not for me. Totally creeps me out.

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