Thoughts readable Neurologists decode brain waves and recognize future actions in advance

The first steps to mind reading are done

Predicting other people's actions has been an act of intuition so far. This could change soon, because an Austrian research team used Nobel Prize-winning insights to decipher the thought patterns of rats. So they could predict exactly what the rodents will do next.

A research group at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (IST Austria) was able to predict where the animal will go next, based on the neuronal activities in the rat brain. The researchers even knew in advance when the animal would make a mistake. The study results appeared recently in the journal "Neuron".

Mind reading does not seem to be as outlandish as previously thought. It already works in rats. (Image: psdesign1 / fotoliacom)

The GPS system in our head

The basis of this study was the findings about the so-called square cells in the brain, a kind of integrated GPS system. These research results were awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2014. At that time, a team led by neuroscientist John O'Keefe discovered certain cells in the brain that make a kind of map of the surrounding space and thus contribute greatly to orientation. For people who are much oriented, such as taxi drivers, also a larger part of these space cells was found.

Read the map in the brain

The Austrian research group used these findings to decipher how exactly rats use these plots to orient themselves. Based on the rodent's measured brain activity, the researchers were able to predict where the rat is now and where it wants to go next. More specifically, the researchers were able to determine where the rat thinks it is, because sometimes cell signals did not match the actual location. "This gives us an insight into what the animal thinks about space," says research director Jozsef Csicsvari in a press release on the study results. The team was able to decipher the way rats think to solve tasks that require their spatial memory.

With GPS through the labyrinth

During the experiments, the scientists ran rats through a labyrinth. There were three out of eight possible ways food. In the first step, the rodents were allowed to move freely in the labyrinth to get their bearings. Meanwhile, their brain activities were measured. On the second visit to the labyrinth, the rats already knew their surroundings. Here, the team was able to show how the animals use their memory to get to the food. "In fact, we can predict which arm the rat will enter next," says Csicsvari.

Reference and working memory

The researchers were able to detect two different mechanisms of how the rat orientates itself. First, it uses the reference memory to remember which path contains rewards and which does not. In addition, she checks in working memory which paths she has already completed. From these two branches results the current position on a mental map.

Even rats make mistakes

Based on how the neurons fired in the rat's brain, the researchers were able to see what the rat had in mind next. Furthermore, the team was able to prove that the four-legged friends also noticed some ways wrong. "If the rat makes a mistake, it remembers a random path," explains Csicsvari. The team already knew in advance when the rat would make a mistake.

The reference memory is easier to interpret

The researchers describe the reference memory as something that uses the brain to find places to visit. By contrast, the main memory is much more abstract. It contains many individual items, such as a list, which are ticked off after being visited. "The hippocampus probably signals the prefrontal cortex where the rat was, and the prefrontal cortex keeps track of which objects it can detach," summarizes Csicsvari. (Vb)