The embodiments described herein are directed to systems and methods for communicating with a computer. The system includes a capture device having sensors to capture a particular brain activity pattern indicative of the mental activity generated in the user by a particular subject, a data storage device operable for storing a plurality of stored brain activity patterns each of which being associated with at least one computer readable indicia indicative of a subject that generated that brain activity pattern. The system also has a processor operable to receive the captured brain activity pattern, search for matching stored brain activity patterns, and if there is at least one matching stored brain activity pattern, retrieve the at least one indicia associated with the at least one matching stored brain activity pattern. The capture device may be an EEG capture device and the captured and stored brain activity patterns are EEG profiles.