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NEWS > SCIENCE > CANADIANS DEVELOP ABILITY TO READ MINDS; SENSE OF HEARING STILL ELUSIVE
CANADIANS DEVELOP ABILITY TO READ MINDS; SENSE OF HEARING STILL ELUSIVE
February 25 2009
Toronto, Canada – Researchers at the University of Toronto have unveiled a new technique that allows researchers to read at least part of a person’s mind. The process involves a headset that emits a low intensity infrared light – similar to the output of a television remote – at the subjects prefrontal cortex allowing scientists to determine a person’s preferences. The researchers claim that the headset as an accuracy of 80% and they believe have a wide range of applications but will first be applied to assess musical taste.
“Preference is the basis for everyday decisions,” said research team lead Sheena Luu. “If we limit the context -- limit the question and available answers, as we have with predicting preference -- then mind-reading becomes possible.”
While exciting, the breakthrough is likely to be confined to research laboratories and focused studies.
“It’s unlikely that this device will ever be used in a mainstream environment. Simply put it’s a little impractical to have this helmet and have someone qualified to read the results in say a bar or restaurant. It would make those environments interesting, but burdensome,” said Scrape TV Science analyst Dr. Howard Poe. “What it can be used for though is not just diagnose what people are interested in, but why they are interested in those things. It’s especially fitting that this was invented in Canada. We may finally have a reason for Celine Dion’s success.”
Researchers expect that long term studies of taste could ultimately alter what kind of entertainment, food, and commercial efforts will be successful. 
“Canada has had some great music – The Guess Who, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, The Tragically Hip – but they’ve also thrust Dion and Shania Twain on the world. Obviously people like this music but this device may help us understand if that is a result of a genuine appetite for screeching, or a part of some fundamental flaw in the way some people process sound,” continued Poe. “It may also help us understand why Canadians have this strange inability to speak the English language properly. Some call that an accent but it’s mostly just slurring, like they’re drunk on doughnuts and double doubles.”
Of course both Dion and Twain have had the bulk of their success outside of Canada and scientists are interested in discovering whether or not musical taste or lack thereof is regional, limited by language, or by level of education.
“We see the majority of success for these artists in first world nations and the connection may simply be access. It may also be that in the first world we are burdened with a cacophony of electronic sounds and it may be that our ability to hear and to process sound has fundamentally altered, at least for some,” continued Poe. “Using this technology may lead to treatment for those afflicted and hopefully limit those with normal hearing exposure to singers like Dion. No offence to her personally, but listening to that just doesn’t seem like something human beings are genetically predisposed to do. Hopefully we can correct the issues before it inserts itself into our genome.”
We attempted to contact representatives for Dion and Twain but received no response. A representative from Dion’s record label Columbia did speak with us and acknowledged that their lawyers were looking into the research. 
“We don’t want business to get in the way of science but we also don’t want science to get in the way of our business. We can’t have people altering their listening habits because of some new fangled machine. We are keeping our eye on it.”
We also contacted representatives for The Tragically Hip who claimed no concerns about the research, stating “We have always been in tune with our audience.”
U of T researchers plan to start reading people’s minds immediately.
Anna Phillips, Science Correspondent
NEWS > SCIENCE > CANADIANS DEVELOP ABILITY TO READ MINDS; SENSE OF HEARING STILL ELUSIVE
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