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fMRI Visual Image Reconstruction

By Adam Kolber

pHere#39;s the abstract from a recent a href=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURLamp;_udi=B6WSS-4V4113M-Pamp;_user=10amp;_rdoc=1amp;_fmt=amp;_orig=searchamp;_sort=damp;view=camp;_acct=C000050221amp;_version=1amp;_urlVersion=0amp;_userid=10amp;md5=a643f4c74084461af0646cbda3e7d983article in Neuron/a:/p div class=articleTitle pstrongVisual Image Reconstruction from Human Brain Activity using a Combination of Multiscale Local Image Decoders /strong/p/div div class=authorsNoEnt id=authorsAnchors div class=ppvMSGstrongYoichi Miyawakia href=http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d83452c65869e200e55069a3018833/post/#aff1 onclick=toggleTabs(#39;unsubTab#39;)sup1/sup/asup, /supa href=http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d83452c65869e200e55069a3018833/post/#aff2 onclick=toggleTabs(#39;unsubTab#39;)sup2/sup/asup, /supa name=bfn1/aa href=http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d83452c65869e200e55069a3018833/post/#fn1 onclick=toggleTabs(#39;unsubTab#39;)sup6/sup/a, Hajime Uchidaa href=http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d83452c65869e200e55069a3018833/post/#aff2 onclick=toggleTabs(#39;unsubTab#39;)sup2/sup/asup, /supa href=http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d83452c65869e200e55069a3018833/post/#aff3 onclick=toggleTabs(#39;unsubTab#39;)sup3/sup/asup, /supa name=bfn1/aa href=http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d83452c65869e200e55069a3018833/post/#fn1 onclick=toggleTabs(#39;unsubTab#39;)sup6/sup/a, Okito Yamashitaa href=http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d83452c65869e200e55069a3018833/post/#aff2 onclick=toggleTabs(#39;unsubTab#39;)sup2/sup/a, Masa-aki Satoa href=http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d83452c65869e200e55069a3018833/post/#aff2 onclick=toggleTabs(#39;unsubTab#39;)sup2/sup/a, Yusuke Moritoa href=http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d83452c65869e200e55069a3018833/post/#aff4 onclick=toggleTabs(#39;unsubTab#39;)sup4/sup/asup, /supa href=http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d83452c65869e200e55069a3018833/post/#aff5 onclick=toggleTabs(#39;unsubTab#39;)sup5/sup/a, Hiroki C. Tanabea href=http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d83452c65869e200e55069a3018833/post/#aff4 onclick=toggleTabs(#39;unsubTab#39;)sup4/sup/asup, /supa href=http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d83452c65869e200e55069a3018833/post/#aff5 onclick=toggleTabs(#39;unsubTab#39;)sup5/sup/a, Norihiro Sadatoa href=http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d83452c65869e200e55069a3018833/post/#aff4 onclick=toggleTabs(#39;unsubTab#39;)sup4/sup/asup, /supa href=http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d83452c65869e200e55069a3018833/post/#aff5 onclick=toggleTabs(#39;unsubTab#39;)sup5/sup/a and Yukiyasu Kamitania href=http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d83452c65869e200e55069a3018833/post/#aff2 onclick=toggleTabs(#39;unsubTab#39;)sup2/sup/asup, /supa href=http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d83452c65869e200e55069a3018833/post/#aff3 onclick=toggleTabs(#39;unsubTab#39;)sup3/sup/asup,#0160;/supsup /supa href=mailto:kmtn@atr.jpsup/sup/a/strong/div/div blockquote dir=ltr style=MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px pspan class=span class=Perceptual experience consists of an enormous number of possible states. Previous fMRI studies have predicted a perceptual state by classifying brain activity into prespecified categories. Constraint-free visual image reconstruction is more challenging, as it is impractical to specify brain activity for all possible images. In this study, we reconstructed visual images by combining local image bases of multiple scales, whose contrasts were independently decoded from fMRI activity by automatically selecting relevant voxels and exploiting their correlated patterns. Binary-contrast, 10 × 10-patch images (2sup100/sup possible states) were accurately /spanspan class=reconstructed without any image prior on a single trial or volume basis by measuring brain activity only for several hundred random images. Reconstruction was also used to identify the presented image among millions of candidates. The results suggest that our approach provides an effective means to read out complex perceptual states from brain activity while discovering information representation in multivoxel patterns./span/span/p/blockquote p dir=ltrspan class=span class=And here is some#0160;a href=http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081215-mindreading-101-identifying-images-by-watching-the-brain.htmlvery helpful commentary/a from John Timmer. (Hat tip: Carter Snead)/span/span/p

Full post as published by Neuroethics and Law on December 17, 2008 (boomark / email).