Brain's reaction to certain words could replace passwords

In "Brainprint," a newly published study in academic journal Neurocomputing, researchers from Binghamton University observed the brain signals of 45 volunteers as they read a list of 75 acronyms, such as FBI and DVD. They recorded the brain's reaction to each group of letters, focusing on the part of the brain associated with reading and recognizing words, and found that participants' brains reacted differently to each acronym, enough that a computer system was able to identify each volunteer with 94 percent accuracy. The results suggest that brainwaves could be used by security systems to verify a person's identity.

According to Sarah Laszlo, assistant professor of psychology and linguistics at Binghamton University and co-author of "Brainprint," brain biometrics are appealing because they are cancelable and cannot be stolen by malicious means the way a finger or retina can.

"If someone's fingerprint is stolen, that person can't just grow a new finger to replace the compromised fingerprint -- the fingerprint for that person is compromised forever. Fingerprints are 'non-cancellable.' Brainprints, on the other hand, are potentially canc fr elable. So, in the unlikely event that attackers were actually able to steal a brainprint from an authorized user, the authorized user could then 'reset' their brainprint," Laszlo said.

Source


To be clear this will not be used in the near future for everyday life.

For that we are perhaps talking another 100 years.

Any thoughts?

I a way this reminds me a little of the TED talk video i saw a while ago in regards to the brain wave reading device that costs a mere $300+ and is made up of a series of sensors that you wear on your head. No need for gels, or shaved heads, just slip the cap on. you then train a program to detect what you think. So the software will display an object on screen, and tell you to imagine the object being pulled towards you. As you do, it records your brain wave patterns and once it has gathered enough information to accurately determine you are imagining the object being drawn towards you, the software responds.

you do the same for spinning, pushing, moving up or down... you can pretty much record your mind thinking anything and it can 'learn' - much like speech recognition.

The point of it is, people with no or limited mobility can benefit from this, just by thinking something, rather than having to control a physical object with their mouth or eyes.

I don't see why it would take a hundred or so years for this to become mainstream. You can already by these devices now, and control games/appliances in your home just by thinking.

The best part is, you can imagine a cat. When it says "visualise the object being draw towards you" you imagine a cat. As long as you repeat the same visualisation, it will detect the same patterns.

Won't help if you have cats though.. suddenly all these cats come flying towards you.. Oo

But it's the same principle I think. What you associate with an idea, is not something anyone can steal, and you can easily change that association...

And this, is easily 5 years old. wonder why it's not really gone anywhere that I've noticed.. :/



I lie, $499 but now with added gadgets. I so want one...

emotiv.com...

a reply to: [post=19414217]sn0rch[/postiy


It could take less. I am just highballing it for the sake of argument.

The technology works and it replaces significant problems.

originally posted by: Kashai
a reply to: [post=19414217]sn0rch[/postiy


It could take less. I am just highballing it for the sake of argument.

The technology works and it replaces significant problems.

It's doable, for the home user now. I could set up my PC, using the above device, to only allow me to log in with a unique, to me, thought or visualisation - even abstract nonsense would be valid as it is simply a generated pattern my brain creates. No one could compromise it. Even if they had the brain wave pattern in their possession, it would not be replicable by any one else.

The practical application is solid. The implementation is not so, I would think. But there was a time, not even 15 years ago that smart phones were unheard of, and everyone had a nokia. how long before we have a head band (google glasses?) that can do this. wireless interaction with the world around us using thought alone. No need for keys, cards, cash, etc. it's a little scary to take it to a distant conclusion, but I would so be using it in a heartbeat.. what my Samsung phone can detect using IR and lasers. lol

a reply to: sn0rch

This is a wearable low tech version, an environmental apparatus is also possible.

Though we cannot halt this progress, we should be careful that our legal system heads off its misuse by not enacting punishments for crimes of imagination.

Any power or authority which is awarded to the state is always misused and abused, that is a simple fact. One which humanity has been aware of for millennia.

There really could be (and many ways already are) thought police.

On topic, I would imagine that this would not work if someone was tired, hungry, aroused or otherwise emotional. The parameters would likely need to be loosened to the point of undependability.

a reply to: greencmp

Actually being tired and so on would not matter it is stimulus/response type of thing. A good example is the word "house" and so no ne thinks about the same kind of house the thought is different. That information is then sent to devise that can process transactions or a computer and so on. More importantly no one can cut off a hand or take out an eye to rob another person property. If anything such a technology could read when a person is in distress and contact law enforcement.

Beyond that this technology for it to work is all abut thought independence than anything else.

PS: If anything, if a person is hungry that could acts as a password. Because they would not be thinking of the same food and even if they did it would not be in the same way.