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In recent years, brain imaging studies have been able to recognize what image a person is looking at purely from brain activity. This is possible because the image maps onto the visual cortex almost like a blurry projection.

But now scientists have gone a step further. Researchers studying patterns of brain activity can correctly identify what image you have seen in the past, or even what image you're imagining, based on brain activity.

The research examines how you remember — and imagine— pictures that you've actually seen. It turns out that similar mechanisms come into play when you imagine something compared to how you process the real thing. 

The scanning system is still in its infancy, but it portends the kind of mind-reading device described by science fiction authors. "It's what you would actually use if you were going to build a functional brain-reading device," said Jack Gallant, a neuroscientist from the University of California, Berkeley.

CNN: Brain scans reveal what you've seen

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