A new study found that, aside from fingerprints, brain activity is unique to each and every person.

A team of researchers from the Yale University led by Emily Finn found that brain activity patterns are consistent and unique enough to be able to identify a specific person.

"The patterns were different enough that we were able to pick people out of a crowd regardless of what people were doing," Finn, a neuroscience doctorate student from the Yale University, said.

Curious to know whether individuality based on personalities and traits can somehow be reflected in brain activity, Finn and her team used brain images from more than 100 volunteers taken by a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine.

What Finn called a "functional connectivity profile" was then calculated for each participant based on unique neural activity patterns in different areas of the brain.

Their findings revealed that brain activity was as unique to each participant like a fingerprint.

"Each person has their own signature pattern," Finn said. "Using only their connectivity profiles, we could identify individuals from a group...(and can also) predict how people would perform on one type of intelligence test."

This is because, aside from thinking pattern, the scans can also reveal how well an individual can do on cognitive tests to measure "fluid intelligence," or problem solving and quick thinking skills.

That is not to say that these scans can serve as substitutes to IQ tests, however, as Finn was quick to point out.

"This is just proof-of-concept that these connectivity profiles are relevant to this very sophisticated cognitive behavior," Finn added.

If further studies will be able to prove that associations exist among mental profiles of people suffering from or are at risk certain mental disorders, it may become useful in the medical field to prevent such disorders or to be able to treat them quickly.

"Ultimately, we hope these profiles could someday be used in personalized medicine, a way to customize interventions and therapies for people based on their individual biology," Finn said.

The findings of their study were published in the Nature Neuroscience journal on Oct. 12.

Photo: Allan Ajifo | Flickr

TAG Neuroscience, brain, fMRI, Fingerprint

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