I was watching the episode ST:TNG “Hollow Pursuits” where Barclay is introduced as acting out his anxieties on the holodeck with hologram versions of other crew members. In the first simulation he has an altercation with Geordi and Riker which leads to “Troi” being turned on by feeling his “confidence” and “arrogant resolve”.
I’m wondering if the holodeck could actually sense Barlcay’s emotions, or if it was just extrapolating them from his behavior. We’ve seen Lwaxana in the holodeck but I can’t remember if she mentioned trying to use her telepathic abilities. We have seen Troi sensing emotions from Data and other artificial beings so it must be possible technically speaking. I wonder if it could generate and read telepathic signals between it’s simulated characters and users. I suppose there’s an issue for aliens which have enhanced senses of other kinds - pheromones and vision in other parts of the EM spectrum, whether the holodeck can and does simulate those.
Are these issues ever addressed in the series? For example, did Troi sense anything from Moriarty or Minuet? Did the Voyager Doctor ever encounter a telepathic alien? Or perhaps it was addressed non canonically in the books or other materials such as the RPG?
In “Manhunt” Lwaxana, who apparently has no idea she’s on a holodeck, flirts with a hologram. She declares that she finds him fascinating because she can’t read him at all.
Well, in the Star Trek TNG novel ‘Metamorphosis’, there’s a plot point that the ship’s systems in general, (and Data’s android systems) are unable to pick up or register telepathy. The holodeck isn’t mentioned specifically, though.
As a WAG, I assumed that holodeck characters, no matter how intelligent or self-aware, show up blank to a true telepath of any sort, and thus interacting with holodeck characters would seem somewhat ‘flat’ to a true Betazoid. On the other hand, if a holodeck character is ‘supposed to’ have empathic senses, (like a simulation of Deanna Troi,) there are probably lots of sensors in the deck that could be applied to real-time analysis of a holodeck patron’s emotions: voice tremor analysis, infrared scanning of skin temperature, and so on and so forth.
Barckay had of course programmed Holo-Troi to respond in such a way to his actions, so the computer is not doing any telepathy. Holograms, androids, and Ferengi are all unreadable to Star Trek telepaths.