The ultimate in personal gadgetry

Personal computing, personal mp3 players and even personal medicine have all entered the public’s technology consciousness – and now an electronics giant has taken it one step further – personal brain scanners.

Ever wondered what your cerebral cortex is up to as you go about your day? Well, if Hitachi has their way then we will all be able to find out with a personal brain scanner.

Hitachi has manufactured a lightweight, portable brain scanner that enables users to keep tabs on their mental activity during the course of their daily lives.

The system, which consists of a 400g headset and a 630g controller worn on the waist, is the result of Hitachi’s efforts to transform the brain scanner into a familiar everyday item that anyone can use.

The rechargeable battery-operated scanner is based on Hitachi’s optical topography technology, which interprets brain activity based on subtle changes in blood flow. Because blood flow increases to areas of the brain where neurons are firing (to supply glucose and oxygen to the tissue), changes in haemoglobin concentrations are an important index by which to measure brain activity. To measure these haemoglobin concentrations in real time, eight small surface-emitting lasers embedded in the headset fire harmless near-infrared rays into the brain and the headset’s photodiode sensors convert the reflected light into electrical signals, which are relayed to the controller.

The real-time brain data can either be stored in Flash memory or sent via wifi to a computer for instant analysis and display. A single computer can support up to 24 scanners at a time, allowing multiple users to monitor brain activity while communicating or engaging in group activities.

In addition to health and medical applications, Hitachi foresees uses for the personal brain scanner in fields such as psychology, education and rather worryingly - marketing.

Although it is unclear what neuromarketing applications the company has in mind, it is pretty clear that access to real-time customer brain data would provide marketers with a better understanding of how and why shoppers make their purchasing decisions.

Hitachi has yet to determine if the personal mind reader will be made commercially available.