America makes mind reading machines

Scientists at the University of Oregon, USA, built a device that allows people to read their thoughts by scanning signals in the brain and then processing and transferring information into images.

According to Science Alert, the researchers selected 23 volunteers and conducted a test with a set of 1,000 color photographs printed with random faces. These photos are made up of 300 different characteristics. Volunteers see images while their brains connect to fMRI function resonators, which detect subtle changes in the brain's blood vessels to monitor nervous system activity.

The fMRI combines with an artificial intelligence program that analyzes and processes information from volunteers' brains, then recreates the image displayed in the brain at the same time that the volunteers are see. Based on brain recognition for 300 traits in photographs, the team can decode and reproduce images in the human brain.

The first phase of the experiment is to teach artificial intelligence software how to read neural activity and decode it into facial features corresponding to the visual eye. The process of comparing real and reproduced images from fMRI signals helps artificial intelligence software better understand how people express information.

The original face (original) and recreated by reading the occipitotemporal (OTC) cortical area information (ANG).(Photo: The Journal of Neuroscience).

After artificial intelligence software is accustomed to reading information from the brain, the second phase of the experiment is conducted. This time, artificial intelligence software is tasked with reconstructing faces based solely on the activity of the volunteer brain. The images of volunteers watching at this stage are completely different from the previous period.

To reconstruct each face, artificial intelligence software based on information operating from two separate regions in the human brain: h corner (ANG ) processing information related to language, number processing, receiving spatial consciousness and the formation of vivid memories while occipitotemporal (OTC) cortex handles visual signals.

"We can take someone's memories, very introspective things, and take them out of their brains , " said neurologist Brice Kuhl, a member of the research team.

The study was published on 1 June 6 in the Journal of Neuroscience. The results show that the face reconstructed by thinking reading algorithms has not described the true image in the brain, but has been able to bring some basic information such as gender, sad state, or skin color. . Other basic details of the face can be read from the brain.

The team is increasing the accuracy of artificial intelligence software and the difficulty of reading information by reproducing images in memory. This is a time-consuming technique but promises to bring interesting applications in life.

Maybe in the future, people will send each other messages in the form of thoughts and memories without having to write or speak. Criminals can also be forced to declare criminal acts through memory.