Researchers at Yale University are using MRI technology, traditionally used to scan the brain for abnormalities, to decode people’s thoughts, perception, and imagination. A recent scientific breakthrough showed that active areas in the brain require more oxygen, which led to a visual mapping of those brain regions called functional brain imaging, or fMRI. Using a massive database of brain scans, Dr. Marvin Chun and his team at Yale are using this brain imaging to understand how to improve memory, attention, conscious perception, and decision-making. The next step in this frontier is to predict future behavior and read people’s thoughts and dreams. Scientists are already using a computer algorithm to predict images that people are viewing, landing one step closer to the centuries-old quest to read people’s minds and decipher their dreams.