by darkbeforedawn » Fri Mar 17, 2006 6:20 pm
Decoding Minds, Foiling Adversaries<br><br>Information warfare is no longer just about machines; it is also about how users think.<br><br>By Sharon Berry<br><br>Whether a threat comes from pilot error or enemy aggression, scientists are finding that multisensor mapping and analysis of the brain lead to systems with human-machine interfaces that can correct human error, aid counterintelligence work and guard against attacks. A technology, known as bio-fusion, combines sensors to examine biological systems to understand how information and neural structures produce thought and to display the thought in mathematical terms. By creating an advanced database containing these terms, researchers now can look at brain activity and determine if a person is lying, receiving instructions incorrectly or concentrating on certain thought types that may indicate aggression.<br><br>Mapping human brain functions is not new; however, using multiple components of the electromagnetic spectrum allows investigators to produce a different snapshot of the brain to gain additional insight. Dr. John D. Norseen, systems scientist for embedded systems, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Company, Marietta, Georgia, is developing the bio-fusion concept further. "If you went into a hospital and had an EEG , it is just telling you if your electrical patterns look fine, but maybe your magnetic components are not functioning properly," he explains. "What I am encouraging is multisensor analysis of the brain--looking at many areas of the spectrum to get a different picture."<br><br>After the information is placed in a database, a composite model of the brain is created. "Now, just by getting an EEG, we can begin to interpolate a better hyperspectral analysis," Norseen says. "The model provides us amplified information."<br><br>Simple interaction with subjects has been used to test the system. A researcher shows a picture to a person or asks a person to think of a number between one and nine. Information is gathered and displayed on a monitor much like on a television. It shows that the person is thinking about the number nine. The researcher then tells the person to say the same number, an action that appears in another part of the brain, the parietal region. "By looking at the collective data, we know that when this person thinks of the number nine or says the number nine, this is how it appears in the brain, providing a fingerprint, or what we call a brainprint," Norseen offers.<br><br>"We are at the point where this database has been developed enough that we can use a single electrode or something like an airport security system where there is a dome above your head to get enough information that we can know the number you're thinking," he adds. "If you go to an automatic teller machine and the sensor system is in place, you could walk away and I would be able to access your personal identification code."<br><br>Norseen shares that the defense industry is interested because this type of data is culturally independent information. Worldwide, most individuals process certain information in the same regions of the brain. Brainprints are unique to each person. While the number nine will appear in the same brain areas of different people, it still occurs as a unique signature of how a person specifically thinks of the number. Biology has the tendency to create things that are self-similar, Norseen says. "The proteins that lay down your fingerprints are the same protein materials that lay down the neurons of the brain," he offers.<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.angelfire.com/or/mctrl/decoding.htm">www.angelfire.com/or/mctrl/decoding.htm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>If you flip over the rock of American foreign <br>policy of the past century, this is what crawls out ... <br><br>invasions ... bombings ... overthrowing <br>governments ... suppressing movements <br>for social change ... assassinating <br>political leaders ... perverting <br>elections ... manipulating labor unions ... <br>manufacturing "news" ... death squads ... <br>torture ... biological warfare ... <br>depleted uranium ... drug trafficking ... <br>mercenaries ...<br><br>It's not a pretty picture. <br>It is enough to give imperialism a bad name.<br> <p></p><i></i>
