Science
News: A computer may one day be able to decode the vivid
imagery of dreams. Yukiyasu Kamitani of the Advanced
Telecommunications Research Institute International in Japan
and coworkers conducted
a
study in which they captured brain scans of three men while
they slept. Then the researchers woke the men and asked
detailed questions about their dreams. After gathering some 200
reports, the researchers grouped the dreamed objects, such as
streets, furniture, and people, into categories. Then the study
participants' brains were scanned again while they looked at
images of things in those categories. By using computer
algorithms to link particular brain patterns with particular
objects, the researchers were able to determine with about 70%
accuracy which of two objects appeared in a dream.
