Matt Parkman uses his telepathy to hear the thoughts of the convenience store customers.
The Telepathic Mutation is the most common neurological mutation. This mutation develops a small, electric organ in the brain, which allows for electroreception. A DNA Alternate detects the electrical impulses in another's brain and interprets this sensory input into understandable words, images, or other perceptions.
Telepathy is the ability to communicate information from one mind to another by electroreception. This can range from the traditional reading of minds to the implanting of thoughts into the minds of the victim. The distance of the Alternate's influence depends greatly and varies according to their potential and degree of control. This ability can also be used to shield a mind from telepathy, by projecting white noise on the electric frequency the telepath uses for electroreception. Also, those with exceptional willpower or training can resist telepathy or make things very difficult on the user (see Matt Parkman vs. Noah Bennet, S03, E17: "Cold Wars")
Advanced Telepathy is an extremely rare and often misunderstood variation of the Telepathy. As per the nature of an advanced ability, Advanced Telepathy is the ability to read minds as well as multiple secondary specializations from the list below, and does not manifest with any secondary. All of the forms may be accessed through an Advanced Telepath, however, the more specializations they have, the weaker each becomes. This is referred to as the Jack of All Trades rule. For example, an Advanced Telepath with five specializations will be twice as powerful with their five abilities than someone with ten. An Advanced Telepath who has five specializations will be five times weaker in their telepathy than a normal Telepath. With the exception of Matt Parkman, no Advanced Telepath has more than ten specializations.
The complete list of telepathic specializations can be found below:
- Amnemopathy is the ability of a telepath to erase memories from someone's cerebral cortex. This can cause neural scarring, and brain damage is a very real risk.
- Claircognizance is a specialization some telepaths use to detect small details about their surroundings without the use of their five senses.
- Clairsentience is the ability of a telepath to see the mental impressions left on objects, effectively seeing the past through the eyes of whoever left the mental impression.
- Clairvoyance is a specialization some telepaths use to locate a person or object merely by locating their unique mentality or mental impression, sometimes anywhere in the world.
- Collective is the ability of a telepath to create a stable, telepathic connection between a group of people, allowing them to share sensations, emotions, thoughts, and memories.
- Famisamplus is a specialization some telepaths use to manipulate the visceral nervous system, allowing them to control feelings of hunger, lust, or addiction in the victim.
- Hypnokinesis is the ability of a telepath to cause someone to fall into a hypnotic state of consciousness, or even unconsciousness.
- Induced Hallucination is a specialization some telepaths use to interfere with the visual cortex of another, forcing them to see whatever the telepath wants them to see.
- Insectopathy is the ability of a telepath to form a telepathic connection to insects and arachnids, allowing for communication and domination.
- Mediumship is a specialization some telepaths use to detect the mental impressions left by the deceased, effectively forming a telepathic connection to the deceased.
- Mirroring is the ability of a telepath to form a telepathic connection to the victim, from which the hypothalamus draws genetic data, and the telepath undergoes a physical change to mimic the victim.
- Neurocognitive Suppression is a specialization some telepaths use to suspend higher brain function, rendering the victim disoriented, unconscious, vegetative, or catatonic.
- Oneirokinesis is the ability of a telepath to manipulate brainwaves during REM sleep, effectively controlling the victim's dreams.
- Penance Stare is a specialization some telepaths use to manipulate the cerebral cortex of the victim, forcing them to relive traumatic experiences.
- Persuasion is the ability of a telepath to suppress the victim's will to resist or disobey, forcing them to do whatever the telepath demands.
- Possession is a specialization some telepaths use to transfer their mind to the victim's brain, allowing the telepath to use the victim's sensory perception, or even dominate their mind.
- Psionic Attack is the ability of a telepath to overwhelm nociceptors with phantom stimulus, causing unmanageable pain in the victim by thought alone.
- Puppetry is a specialization some telepaths use to manipulate the ventral horn in the victim, allowing them to completely dominate the actions of the victim.
- Technopathy is the ability of a telepath to form a telepathic connection to electronics which they can then compel to do as they demand.