Contents:
Medical Video: I Am Going to Read Your Mind - Magic Trick
Ever imagined what it would be like to be Charles Xavier, a genius professor with a wheelchair mentor for X-Men? Charles, aka Professor X, has mutant powers that make him able to read other people's thoughts as well as control them. Even though Professor X is just a fictional character, if you have to examine this super power, it turns out it's not just a dream in broad daylight, you know!
Is it possible for humans to be able to read other people's thoughts?
You may have believed that every human mind and thought is intangible, abstract, so unpredictable. But actually, all mental activity in the brain is communicated through electrical impulses.
Your brain "lives" from electrical support, similar to a computer. When you concentrate on thinking about something, this activity will trigger the activation of signals in the nerves in the premotor cortex - the brain region responsible for planning movement. This neural group is turned on not only when you do an action, but also when you see the same action being done by someone else. This neural group, by researchers, is called a mirror neuron. Some subsequent experiments confirm that mirror neurons also reflect sensations and emotions, not just reflect actions.
Thus, "Mirror neurons show that we can actually empathize with others - feel how to be at that moment," said Marco Iaboni, a neuroscientist from the University of California, Los Angeles School of Medicine, citing Live Science. Even with the presence of mirror neurons, we do not have to pretend to empathize, because we really can really read the person's mind. When we interact with someone, we do more than just observe the behavior of others. Researchers believe we create an internal representation of that person's actions, sensations and emotions, within ourselves, as if we are those who move and feel.
Interestingly, the latest research has succeeded in making the idea of "mind reading" that inspired many science fiction films to become a reality - though not as sophisticated as what appeared on the silver screen.
How do you read other people's thoughts?
Unfortunately until now mind reading cannot be done at will like Professor X. You must first be involved in an experiment in the laboratory, as was done by a study published in the 2014 PLOS ONE journal. The research team successfully exchanged (sending and receiving) messages direct brain waves between two humans thousands of kilometers away: one in India, the other in France - aka telepathy. This message sent through mind reading is a simple greeting: "¡Hola!" (Hello!) In Spanish, and "Ciao!" (Hello!) In Italian.
Reading the mind in this way is achieved by detecting brain waves from two people through a combination of electroencephalography (EEG) technology and a special technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Brain waves can change according to the cognitive processes of the brain that are active at that time. For example, brain wave patterns during sleep will be different from when we wake up during the day.
In this experiment, EEG and TMS technology was used as a means to facilitate the activity of synaptic signal neurons. Synaptic transmission is communication between brain cells that forms the basis of all brain activity, including motor control, memory, perception, and emotions. The EEG works with the sender of the message: this technology uses a helmet-like head device with electrodes to record brain activity from sending "¡Hola!" Signals from participants in India.
After successfully "reading minds" of the participants, the researchers then changed this brain wave pattern into a number code 1 (one) recorded on a computer and sent it via email to a team in France. There, TMS captures and converts these signals to the recipient by delivering an electric current to stimulate the recipient's brain to produce felt stimulation. In this case, the stimulation received by the participant in France is in the form of flashes of light (in the condition of the eyes being closed by cloth), which can then be translated into the original words: "¡Hola!".
Experiments in the same way were previously carried out in 2013 by researchers from the University of Washington. They induce brain waves from a participant who was asked to imagine to press a button. This sending of messages causes participants in the next room to automatically press the button provided in the room, out of their will. However, to date mind reading technology can only be effective if both parties are in a conscious state, and know well when they are "read" their thoughts.
So, what would you do if humans really could read other people's thoughts?
