NEWRON Vol V, Issue XXI

[Natan Davidovics]

NeuroEngineering Weekly Review of News

We may be pretty close to mind reading thanks to neuroengineers (article #1).

 

Interesting NeuroEngineering links:

Hopkins Neuroengineering web site: http://neuroengineering.bme.jhu.edu
New job blog: http://neuroengjobs.blogspot.com/
Blog for administrative questions: http://neuroengineering.blogspot.com
NEWRON on the web!: http://groups.google.com/group/newron?lnk=srg&pli=1

Enjoy,
Natan Davidovics
NEWRON Publishing Corporation

The Quest to Read the Human Mind

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-01/mind-readers

For the past 10 years, Gallant has been running a neuroscience and psychology lab at Berkeley dedicated to brain imaging and vision research. He’s one of a few neuroscientists in the world on the verge of unlocking the key to mind reading through brain-pattern analysis using magnetic resonance scans and algorithms. By showing me a series of random photographs and evaluating fMRI readings from my primary visual cortex, Gallant says his technique can reconstruct imagery stored in my brain. His current method takes hours of analysis, but his objective is to hone the technology to the point where it can deduce what people are seeing in real time.

Soft Memory Device Opens Door To New Biocompatible Electronics

http://news.ncsu.edu/releases/wmsdickeysoftmemory/

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a memory device that is soft and functions well in wet environments – opening the door to a new generation of biocompatible electronic devices.

“We’ve created a memory device with the physical properties of Jell-O,” says Dr. Michael Dickey, an assistant professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the research.

JPEG for the Mind: How the Brain Compresses Visual Information

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/02/110210164155.htm

In the February 10 online issue ofCurrent Biology, a Johns Hopkins team led by neuroscientists Ed Connor and Kechen Zhang describes what appears to be the next step in understanding how the brain compresses visual information down to the essentials.

They found that cells in area "V4," a midlevel stage in the primate brain's object vision pathway, are highly selective for image regions containing acute curvature. Experiments by doctoral student Eric Carlson showed that V4 cells are very responsive to sharply curved or angled edges, and much less responsive to flat edges or shallow curves.