Scientists extract images directly from brain
12 Dec 2008

ATR mind reader --

Researchers from Japan's ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories
have developed new brain analysis technology that can reconstruct the
images inside a person's mind and display them on a computer monitor,
it was announced on December 11. According to the researchers,
further development of the technology may soon make it possible to
view other people's dreams while they sleep.

The scientists were able to reconstruct various images viewed by a
person by analyzing changes in their cerebral blood flow. Using a
functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine, the researchers
first mapped the blood flow changes that occurred in the cerebral
visual cortex as subjects viewed various images held in front of
their eyes. Subjects were shown 400 random 10 x 10 pixel black-and-
white images for a period of 12 seconds each. While the fMRI machine
monitored the changes in brain activity, a computer crunched the data
and learned to associate the various changes in brain activity with
the different image designs.

Then, when the test subjects were shown a completely new set of
images, such as the letters N-E-U-R-O-N, the system was able to
reconstruct and display what the test subjects were viewing based
solely on their brain activity.

For now, the system is only able to reproduce simple black-and-white
images. But Dr. Kang Cheng, a researcher from the RIKEN Brain Science
Institute, suggests that improving the measurement accuracy will make
it possible to reproduce images in color.

"These results are a breakthrough in terms of understanding brain
activity," says Dr. Cheng. "In as little as 10 years, advances in
this field of research may make it possible to read a person's
thoughts with some degree of accuracy."

The researchers suggest a future version of this technology could be
applied in the fields of art and design — particularly if it becomes
possible to quickly and accurately access images existing inside an
artist's head. The technology might also lead to new treatments for
conditions such as psychiatric disorders involving hallucinations, by
providing doctors a direct window into the mind of the patient.

ATR chief researcher Yukiyasu Kamitani says, "This technology can
also be applied to senses other than vision. In the future, it may
also become possible to read feelings and complicated emotional
states."

The research results appear in the December 11 issue of US science
journal Neuron.

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directly-from-brain/

See also:

Scientists extract images directly from the brain
Posted in News by Conner Flynn on December 11th, 2008

In what could be the first step toward recording your dreams,
researchers from Japan's ATR Computational Neuroscience Laboratories
have developed new brain analysis technology that can reconstruct the
images inside a person's mind and display them on a computer monitor.
That means it won't be long before you can share your thoughts and
dreams with others the way you share your flickr pics. They've
successfully displayed simple images produced in the human brain on a
computer screen.

The device converts electrical signals sent to the visual cortex into
images that can be viewed on a computer screen. In the experiment,
they showed test subjects the six letters in the word neuron and
successfully reconstructed the word on screen by measuring brain
activity. So, is this awesome or scary as hell? I vote scary.

I don't want my wife knowing that I dream about other hot women, and
that dream about me as Batman with a Victoria's Secret model as a
sidekick was just plain wrong.

[Pink Tentacle]