See into your mind - Scientists render mental images in real time

[williamcll]

BCI imaging has been done before in the past but it took time and the result is poor, last month Scientists in Russia have published a way to improve the quality to the point of a really short sighted man in real-time.

Quote

Researchers from Russian corporation Neurobotics and the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology have found a way to visualize a person's brain activity as actual images mimicking what they observe in real time. This will enable new post-stroke rehabilitation devices controlled by brain signals. The team published its research as a preprint on bioRxiv and posted a video online showing their "mind-reading" system at work.

 

To develop devices controlled by the brain and methods for cognitive disorder treatment and post-stroke rehabilitation, neurobiologists need to understand how the brain encodes information. A key aspect of this is studying the brain activity of people perceiving visual information, for example, while watching a video.

The existing solutions for extracting observed images from brain signals either use functional MRI or analyze the signals picked up via implants directly from neurons. Both methods have fairly limited applications in clinical practice and everyday life.

The brain-computer interface developed by MIPT and Neurobotics relies on artificial neural networks and electroencephalography, or EEG, a technique for recording brain waves via electrodes placed noninvasively on the scalp. By analyzing brain activity, the system reconstructs the images seen by a person undergoing EEG in real time.

"We're working on the Assistive Technologies project of Neuronet of the National Technology Initiative, which focuses on the brain-computer interface that enables post-stroke patients to control an exoskeleton arm for neurorehabilitation purposes, or paralyzed patients to drive an electric wheelchair, for example. The ultimate goal is to increase the accuracy of neural control for healthy individuals, too," said Vladimir Konyshev, who heads the Neurorobotics Lab at MIPT.

Figure 2. Operation algorithm of the brain-computer interface (BCI) system. Credit: Anatoly Bobe/Neurobotics, and @tsarcyanide/MIPT

In the first part of the experiment, the neurobiologists asked healthy subjects to watch 20 minutes of 10-second YouTube video fragments. The team selected five arbitrary video categories: abstract shapes, waterfalls, human faces, moving mechanisms and motor sports. The latter category featured first-person recordings of snowmobile, water scooter, motorcycle and car races.

By analyzing the EEG data, the researchers showed that the brain wave patterns are distinct for each category of videos. This enabled the team to analyze the brain's response to videos in real time.

 

In the second phase of the experiment, three random categories were selected from the original five. The researchers developed two neural networks: one for generating random category-specific images from "noise," and another for generating similar "noise" from EEG. The team then trained the networks to operate together in a way that turns the EEG signal into actual images similar to those the test subjects were observing (fig. 2).

Illustration. Brain-computer interface. Credit: @tsarcyanide/MIPT

To test the system's ability to visualize brain activity, the subjects were shown previously unseen videos from the same categories. As they watched, EEGs were recorded and fed to the neural networks. The system passed the test, generating convincing images that could be easily categorized in 90 percent of the cases (fig. 1).

"The electroencephalogram is a collection of brain signals recorded from scalp. Researchers used to think that studying brain processes via EEG is like figuring out the internal structure of a steam engine by analyzing the smoke left behind by a steam train," explained paper co-author Grigory Rashkov, a junior researcher at MIPT and a programmer at Neurobotics. "We did not expect that it contains sufficient information to even partially reconstruct an image observed by a person. Yet it turned out to be quite possible."

"What's more, we can use this as the basis for a brain-computer interface operating in real time. It's fairly reassuring. With present-day technology, the invasive neural interfaces envisioned by Elon Musk face the challenges of complex surgery and rapid deterioration due to natural processes — they oxidize and fail within several months. We hope we can eventually design more affordable neural interfaces that do not require implantation," the researcher added.

Source:https://techxplore.com/news/2019-10-neural-network-reconstructs-human-thoughts.html?fbclid=IwAR3RPvTBE7naQ4oTT7n-cwxfU0u6XKwhtug22XTsMHVYo-8XY3birvUlMfk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf-P3b2AnZw

https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/787101v2

Thoughts: We are now one step closer to cyberpunk, I can tell a fully functional version of this BCI will be a big seller.

[Aimi]

Does this mean I can stop frustrating myself trying to actually draw things I think of?

[Praesi]

I dont like where this is going. My thoughts are mine and mine alone.

[That Franc]

This looks a bit sketchy. Either the person is staring at one point without moving their eyes or head at all, or the "brain recording" is fabricated in its entirety. Besides, the feed doesn't always correspond with the image shown.

Spoiler

 

[Tech_Dreamer]

[Doobeedoo]

We won't need to interact with each other in the future, we'll all be linked together like Borg and be perfect

[Unixsystem]

Imagine a world where concept artists were redundant because anyone could just render anything exactly the way that they imagine it in their mind. 

 

Spoiler

This seems rad. 

 

[NumLock21]

Scientist: We going to wire this thing up to your head and you're going to draw with your mind.
Me: must not think of dickbutt, must not think of dickbutt, must not think of dickbutt, must think of something apporiate!
Screen: a drawing of dickbutt

[Master Disaster]

8 hours ago, huilun02 said:

Basically all it proves is being able to see what the eyes are sending to the brain. Might not even be the person's thoughts.

We have no choice on what our eyes see. But we have full choice of what we think. And often what we think is not in the form of an image at all.

So...

Do we really have full control of thoughts though? Impulsiveness is a real thing.

[BuckGup]

17 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

Do we really have full control of thoughts though? Impulsiveness is a real thing.

Research has shown that you actually make decisions before your conscious brain is aware. They have been using it for lie detecting as it basically impossible to fool 

[Fnige]

8 hours ago, Doobeedoo said:

We won't need to interact with each other in the future, we'll all be linked together like Borg and be perfect

Resistance is futile

[mr moose]

this is the first step to telepathy.

 

[Dabombinable]

When we have thought controlled computers...things are going to get rather insane in any time sensitive game.

[amdorintel]

7 hours ago, SlimyPython said:

Resistance is futile

linus has a tumor

would linus mental image be a silly face?

[strajk-]

My recent infatuation with MiniDiva's content in PornHub is sure to please these researchers.

[CTR640]

11 hours ago, NumLock21 said:

Scientist: We going to wire this thing up to your head and you're going to draw with your mind.
Me: must not think of dickbutt, must not think of dickbutt, must not think of dickbutt, must think of something apporiate!
Screen: a drawing of dickbutt

Lmfao! The biggest enemy is our own mind and they betray us when it comes to shit like this. 

[Trik'Stari]

22 hours ago, Praesi said:

I dont like where this is going. My thoughts are mine and mine alone.

Better not think any wrong thoughts. If you do, you're literally *insert dictator name here*

[Praesi]

1 minute ago, Trik'Stari said:

Better not think any wrong thoughts. If you do, you're literally *insert dictator name here*

On top im white and male. Hell awaits anyway.

[Bombastinator]

There have been various “mind controlled” devices claiming to be able to do this since the 80’s. They usually wound up actually being facial muscle controlled.  Biofeedback, basically.

 

i don’t think this is happening here.  EEG generally attempts to take signals from areas of the head without muscles on them.

[Bombastinator]

22 hours ago, Praesi said:

I dont like where this is going. My thoughts are mine and mine alone.

Google metrics would beg to disagree.

[rcmaehl]

On 11/10/2019 at 5:42 AM, Aimi said:

Does this mean I can stop frustrating myself trying to actually draw things I think of?

15 hours ago, Waffles13 said:

Imagine a world where concept artists were redundant because anyone could just render anything exactly the way that they imagine it in their mind. 

 

  Reveal hidden contents

This seems rad. 

 

4 hours ago, strajk- said:

My recent infatuation with MiniDiva's content in PornHub is sure to please these researchers.

7 hours ago, VegetableStu said:

old and busted: how will the millitary use this?

 

new and hotness: how will facebook use this?

 

for every frame of actual work, there'd be 29 images of naughty drawings, lol

 

Oh....OH NO.

QUICK, we must destroy this technology before the adult entertainment industry gets ahold of it. 
 

[Unixsystem]

8 hours ago, rcmaehl said:

 

Oh....OH NO.

QUICK, we must destroy this technology before the adult entertainment industry gets ahold of it. 
 

With this technology, who needs an adult industry anymore? 

[rcmaehl]

Just now, Waffles13 said:

With this technology, who needs an adult industry anymore? 

No, they're gonna buy the patent and make it bundled with like Premium accounts. We can't let this happen. 

[Unixsystem]

5 minutes ago, rcmaehl said:

No, they're gonna buy the patent and make it bundled with like Premium accounts. We can't let this happen. 

You can't patent true love.