Jackie, member of Group 13, in Vassar's EEG lab

Group 13: Project Abstract

Memory manipulation and the idea that one’s thoughts could be recorded and “read” by another person show up in many science fiction films, such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Inception, and Minority Report. These films inspire our project: We intend to explore the science of “mind-reading.” We will look at primary literature in the field to investigate how technology such as fMRI and electroencephalography (EEG) can be used to measure the electrical and magnetic activity of brains. Applications of such technology, if it works reliably to access people’s thoughts, memories, and dreams, would be widespread, from assessing psychological conditions to lie detection in criminal cases. We will present the results of our investigation in a poster.