Dreams, Decoded by Computers!

Have any really strange ones lately? Some people, like my grandkids for example, remember theirs and retell them in vivid terms. The other day, one of my granddaughters was dreaming in Spanish when she was awakened by a text message from her mother reminding her that it was time to get up and get ready for school. My youngest grandson is awakened by dreams almost every night. I've heard him mumble, “Bad dream,” almost as if he is scolding it for waking him up even as he is falling back into sleep. I am one who rarely remembers a dream, though I am sure I have them. This could be soon be remedied by Japanese researchers involved in teaching computers to recognize images in dreams.

Using advanced medical imaging technology and some complex mathematical formulas, Japanese researchers are training computers to recognize the images passing through the minds of sleepers during early dream stages. The people in their studies were hooked up to machines and awakened during sleep over 200 times, approximately every six minutes and asked to relate what image they were seeing in their dream. I am glad I was not a part of this study because as much as I’m curious about my dreams, I prefer a good night’s sleep and I think I would be one cranky test subject. Then the scientists and researchers put all the data together and developed a computer program to read the dreams and they were surprisingly accurate, from 60% to as much as 75% accurate in many cases. Decoding dreams is just a small key to understanding how the brain works and this research could have wide ranging implications for brain research in other areas.

Machines that can read my mind, at first I thought, wow, very awesome, but upon reflection, I am not so sure I’d want anyone to be able to read my mind, even if only in my dreams.