By observing the brain states of 45 volunteers exposed to a list of 75 acronyms like FBI or DVD, researchers were able to differentiate between the subjects with 94 percent accuracy based on the differences in how they reacted.
"If someone's fingerprint is stolen, that person can't just grow a new finger to replace the compromised fingerprint — the fingerprint for that person is compromised forever. Fingerprints are 'non-cancellable.' Brainprints, on the other hand, are potentially cancellable. So, in the unlikely event that attackers were actually able to steal a brainprint from an authorized user, the authorized user could then 'reset' their brainprint," said Sarah Laszlo, assistant professor of psychology and linguistics at Binghamton University and co-author of the paper.
