World’s First Successful Imaging from Visual Information in the Brain 2009/6/5 The research group of Yukiyasu Kamitani, head of the Department of Neuroinformatics at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International, has become the first to create an image of an object a person is looking at based on that person’s brain activity. The results were published in the December 11, 2008, edition of the US science journal, Neuron, and an illustration of the study was used for the journal’s cover.

The method developed by Kamitani’s group is called visual image reconstruction. The pattern of blood flow changes in subjects is expressed by combining picture elements in a 10 by 10 grid. First the subject looks at 400 mosaic images with blinking white, black, and gray in the grid’s squares, and the pattern of blood flow changes is recorded. Afterward, the subject looks at an image in which a letter or shape is drawn in the blinking grid, and the blood flow changes are measured. This is compared with the earlier recordings and the letter or shape seen is estimated and reproduced.

In the past there have been cases of successful simple discrimination between, for example, paper, scissors, rock forms of the hand in the children’s game, but this is the first time in the world in which various letters and shapes have been distinguished.

The newly developed method has three characteristics. First is the combination of fine picture element units, second is the use of a sparse logistic regression algorithm that automatically selects the brain location related to each picture element, and third is multiresolution expression using picture elements of differing resolutions.

If images depicted in the brain can be directly retrieved, this can be applied in the fields of design and art. It may also lead to the development of new treatments for mental disorders accompanied by hallucinogenic symptoms or new technologies to operate machinery or other devices by converting thoughts in the mind to electric signals, without moving the body.

If images can be made of the world we see through analysis of brain activity, reproducing our dreams or fantasies on a screen like TV broadcasts or movies may also become possible. The results of this study are based on innovative techniques that differ from those used previously, and further developments will be watched.

Related Website
- Japanese Group Reconstructs Visual Images from Brain Activity Patterns [Tech-On!]