Scanning your brain to decode the contents of your mind has been a subject of intense research interest for some time. As studies have progressed, scientists have gradually been able to interpret what test subjects see, remember, imagine, and even dream.
There have been significant limitations, however, beginning with a necessity to extensively catalog each subject’s unique brain patterns, which are then matched with a small number of pre-programmed images. These procedures require that subjects undergo lengthy and expensive fMRI testing.
Now a team of researchers in Kyoto has used neural network-based artificial intelligence to decode and predict what a person is seeing or imagining, referring to a significantly larger catalog of images. Their results are reported in Nature Communications.
“When we gaze at an object, our brains process these patterns hierarchically, starting with the simplest and progressing to more complex features,” explains team leader Yukiyasu Kamitani of Kyoto University.
“The AI we used works on the same principle. Named ‘Deep Neural Network’, or DNN, it was trained by a group now at Google.”
The team from Kyoto University and ATR (Advanced Telecommunications Research) Computational Neuroscience Laboratories discovered that brain activity patterns can be decoded, or translated, into signal patterns of simulated neurons in the DNN when both are shown the same image.
Additionally, the researchers found that lower and higher visual areas in the brain were better at decoding respective layers of the DNN, revealing a homology between the human brain and the neural network.
“We tested whether a DNN signal pattern decoded from brain activity can be used to identify seen or imagined objects from arbitrary categories,” explains Kamitani. “The decoder takes neural network patterns and compares these with image data from a large database. Sure enough, the decoder could identify target objects with high probability.”
As brain decoding and AI development advance, Kamitani hopes to improve the image identification accuracy of their technique. He concludes, “Bringing AI research and brain science closer together could open the door to new brain-machine interfaces, perhaps even bringing us closer to understanding consciousness itself.”
Learn more: Take a look, and you’ll see, into your imagination
[osd_subscribe categories=’mind-reading-technology’ placeholder=’Email Address’ button_text=’Subscribe Now for any new posts on the topic “MIND READING TECHNOLOGY’]
The Latest on: Mind reading technology
[google_news title=”” keyword=”mind reading technology” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]- Is this the future? Wild new tech can read someone’s mind — with shocking accuracy
Researchers at the California Institute of Technology have revealed “significant” results in tech advancement that, in essence, can read people’s minds.
- How Elon Musk’s Neuralink brain chip allows paralyzed people to control devices with their mind
Neuralink wrote a blog item on its web site indicating that the brain implant worn by Noland Arbaugh experienced a problem and began to malfunction.
- MIT Technology Review
OpenAI's Sora has raised the bar for AI moviemaking. Here are four things to bear in mind as we wrap our heads around what's coming. Insilico is part of a wave of companies betting on AI as the ...
- Mind Technology (NASDAQ: MIND)
MIND Technology, Inc. engages in the provision of technology and solutions for exploration, survey and defense applications in oceanographic, hydrographic, defense, seismic and security industries.
- MIND Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MIND) Q4 2024 Earnings Call Transcript
MIND Technology, Inc. isn’t one of the 30 most ... be accurate as of the time of any replay listening or transcript reading. Before we begin, let me remind you that certain statements made ...
via Google News and Bing News