Japanese scientists revealed that they have succeeded in creating the world’s first mental images of objects and landscapes from human brain activity using artificial intelligence (AI) technology. This innovation, known as “brain decoding”, holds potential in the medical and welfare fields. Here are the key points:
- A team of scientists from the National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology, another national institute and Osaka University used AI to produce mental images of a leopard and an airplane.
- The technique allows for the visualization of perceptual contents from brain activity recorded through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
- The latest advancement overcomes the limitations of prior studies that were constrained to specific domains, such as alphabetical letters.
- This technology employs generative AI that draws images in combination with predictive techniques to recreate complicated objects.
- This development might assist in creating communication devices and improving our understanding of the brain mechanisms behind hallucinations and dreams.
The process was carried out by exposing participants to 1,200 images of objects and landscapes. The connection between their brain signals and the pictures displayed were analysed and measured using fMRI. The same pictures were inputted into generative AI to learn their correspondence with the brain activity.
The results of the study were published recently in the Neural Networks scientific journal. It is considered a remarkable leap in brain decoding as it successfully extends the bounds of reconstructing images seen by human participants from their brain activity beyond mere alphabetical letters.
In conclusion, this landmark achievement in utilising AI to visualize mental images based on human brain activity is significant, with potential applications in the field of healthcare, particularly neurological disorders, and the development of advanced communication devices. It also opens the door to a better understanding of how our brain creates and interprets reality.