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    Reading and Speaking Dreams

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    Paula Camila
    Japanese scientists have developed a new technique to analyze and predict the contents of people's dreams using MRI brain scans and machine learning. They were able to predict with 60% accuracy what images volunteers had seen during sleep. The researchers hope this research could help develop technologies to allow disabled people to control prosthetics and help those with neurological conditions like dementia. However, they also acknowledge important ethical considerations around allowing access to people's private thoughts and dreams.

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    Reading and Speaking Dreams

    Uploaded by

    Paula Camila
    63 views4 pages
    Japanese scientists have developed a new technique to analyze and predict the contents of people's dreams using MRI brain scans and machine learning. They were able to predict with 60% accuracy what images volunteers had seen during sleep. The researchers hope this research could help develop technologies to allow disabled people to control prosthetics and help those with neurological conditions like dementia. However, they also acknowledge important ethical considerations around allowing access to people's private thoughts and dreams.

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    Reading and speaking dreams

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    Japanese scientists have developed a new technique to analyze and predict the contents of people's dreams using MRI brain scans and machine learning. They were able to predict with 60% accuracy what images volunteers had seen during sleep. The researchers hope this research could help develop technologies to allow disabled people to control prosthetics and help those with neurological conditions like dementia. However, they also acknowledge important ethical considerations around allowing access to people's private thoughts and dreams.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    63 views4 pages

    Reading and Speaking Dreams

    Uploaded by

    Paula Camila
    Japanese scientists have developed a new technique to analyze and predict the contents of people's dreams using MRI brain scans and machine learning. They were able to predict with 60% accuracy what images volunteers had seen during sleep. The researchers hope this research could help develop technologies to allow disabled people to control prosthetics and help those with neurological conditions like dementia. However, they also acknowledge important ethical considerations around allowing access to people's private thoughts and dreams.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 4

    Reading – Dreams

    Japanese scientists say they have found a (1)   journal


    ____________ to "read" people's dreams. Researchers at rate
    the ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories used magnetic
    (2) ____________ resonance imaging (MRI) for what they approach
    say is, "the world's first (3) ____________ " of night-time way
    visions. Their research is published in the (4) during
    ____________ "Science". The researchers wrote: "Visual decoding
    imagery during sleep has long been a topic of (5) persistent
    ____________ speculation, but its private nature has
    hampered objective analysis. Here, we present a neural
    decoding (6) ____________ in which machine learning
    models predict the contents of visual imagery (7)
    ____________ sleep." They were able to predict what
    images their volunteers had seen with a 60 per cent
    accuracy (8) ____________.

    The research is a part of a (9) ____________ programme   condition


    aimed at studying the brain. It hopes to (10) s
    ____________ the secrets of the unconscious mind to help fascinate
    the disabled move artificial (11) ____________ using brain d
    activity. It could also help those with dementia and other step
    neurological (12) ____________. A spokesperson said: unlock
    "Our expectations from the dream study are quite (13) high
    ____________, but we are also looking carefully at the wider
    ethical aspects of the technology, which may allow a (14) limbs
    ____________ person to look at somebody else's third
    thoughts." Head researcher Yukiyasu Kamitani said,
    "dreams have (15) ____________ people since ancient
    times, but their function and meaning has remained
    closed". He believes his research is, "a key (16)
    ____________ towards reading dreams more precisely".

    COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

    1. What technology did the scientists use to "read" people's dreams?


    2. What did the scientists say was a world first?
    3. What have visions during sleep been a topic of for a long time?
    4. What has always got in the way of "objective analysis"?
    5. How precisely were researchers able to predict images volunteers saw?
    6. How do scientists hope to help disabled people?
    7. Who else could the research help besides the disabled?
    8. How hopeful are researchers their research will bear fruit?
    9. What considerations are the researchers looking into?
    10. For how long did a researcher say dreams have fascinated us?

    2. SYNONYM MATCH: Match the following synonyms from the


    article.

    persistent a. slowed down


    1.
    2. hampered b. correctness
    3. objective c. interested
    4. predict d. synthetic
    5. accuracy e. constant
    6. unconscious f. forecast
    7. artificial g. moral
    8. conditions h. sleeping
    9. ethical i. unbiased
    10. fascinated j. illnesses
    ROLE PLAY

    Role  A – Pro-dream reader

    You think the ability to read dreams and thoughts is fantastic. Tell the
    others three reasons why. The technology could cure all mental illnesses. It
    could cure the world's mental health and we would all love each other. You
    think most people would love to look back at their dreams.
    Role  B – Anti-dream reader

    You think the ability to read dreams and thoughts is very dangerous. Tell
    the others three reasons why. You think it is ethically unsound to read
    dreams and thoughts. There is a reason why we cannot read dreams. You
    think this ability would change humans too much.
    Role  C – Troubled relationship person

    You are having trouble with your partner. You think (s)he is seeing someone
    else. You are sure that if you read his/her dreams, you could find out the
    answer. You think dream-reading is a fantastic way of keeping marriages
    and relationships together.
    Role  D – Person X

    You are incredibly rich and powerful and want to be a dictator. You want to
    invest in this dream-reading technology to control everyone in your country.
    Support everything the pro-dream reader says. Strongly disagree with the
    other two. Tell everyone nothing gets in the way of science.

    STUDENT A's QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student B)

    a) What did you think when you read the headline?


    b) What springs to mind when you hear the word 'dream'?
    c) What kinds of dreams do you have?
    d) Would you like to be able to read your dreams?
    e) Do you think this is a good use of technology?
    f) Would you like to be able to read everything in someone's mind?
    g) Would you like to volunteer for this research?
    h) How interested are you in the meaning of dreams?
    i) Has anything you've dreamt about come true?
    j) Do you ever dream in English?

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
    -

    STUDENT B's QUESTIONS (Do not show these to student A)

    a) Did you like reading this article? Why/not?


    b) Do you think scientists should unlock all the brain's secrets?
    c) Could dream- / mind-reading technology be dangerous?
    d) Would you buy technology that let you save dreams on your computer?
    e) Whose mind or dreams would you like to read?
    f) Could this technology cure the world's mental health?
    g) What are the ethical issues surrounding this technology?
    h) Who would you allow to read your deepest thoughts?
    i) How could this technology improve people's lives?
    j) What questions would you like to ask the scientists?

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