Recent advances in human neuroimaging have shown that it is possible to accurately decode a person‘s conscious experience based only on non-invasive MRI measurements of their brain activity. Such ‚brain reading‘ has mostly been studied in the domain of visual perception, where it helps reveal the way in which individual experiences are encoded in the human brain. Here several studies will be presented that directly demonstrate the ability to decode various types of mental states from brain signals. It is possible to decode simple mental states, such as visual percepts, even if they do not reach conscious awareness („subliminal perception“). But even high-level mental states such as intentions can be read out. It is even possible to predict a person‘s free choices several seconds before they believe to be making up their mind. There are also several potential applications such as the prediction of purchase decisions for consumer products. A number of fundamental challenges to the science of „brain reading“ will be presented and discussed.
The research of John-Dylan Haynes focuses on the neural correlates of visual consciousness and on the use of neuroimaging to read out mental states from patterns of brain activity. This includes the decoding and predicting of visual experiences, intentions, reward expectations and consumer choices. He has also written several articles on the promises and limitations of brain-reading for neurotechnology. Following a PhD in Bremen, Haynes worked at the Plymouth Institute of Neuroscience and the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience in London, before starting his own research group at the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig. Since 2006 he is Professor for Theory and Analysis of Large-Scale Brain Signals at the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience at the Charité Berlin and since 2010 he heads the new Berlin Center for Advanced Neuroimaging.
Moderation: Professor Dr. Martin Lotze