What I find interesting about this sort of thing is the extent of reliance upon datamining methods. In short, neuroscientists are using artificial intelligence to try to figure out how real intelligence works! I find the situation amusing.
The situation could eventually turn into a positive feedback loop, with better understanding of the brain fueling better datamining methods that yield further insight into the brain-- but right now I think it is fair to say that is not the situation. Even if the team used artificial neural nets as their technique of choice, the software probably does not have a significant neurological inspiration. (I have a friend who uses the standard feedforward neural nets to examine brainscan data, for example.) Advances in datamining are being made with essentially no guidance from neuroscience. So *if* things keep on the present course, a full understanding of the brain might be made possible only via already-created AGIs. -Abram Demski On Wed, Nov 12, 2008 at 7:51 AM, Mike Tintner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > [This seems v. important. It seems to hold out the promise of eventually > recording inner monologues, which IMO would be revolutionary for cog. sci. > Comments?] > > http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081110071240.htm > > Neuroimaging Of Brain Shows Who Spoke To A Person And What Was Said > > ScienceDaily (Nov. 10, 2008) — Scientists from Maastricht University have > developed a method to look into the brain of a person and read out who has > spoken to him or her and what was said. With the help of neuroimaging and > data mining techniques the researchers mapped the brain activity associated > with the recognition of speech sounds and voices > > In their Science article "'Who' is Saying 'What'? Brain-Based Decoding of > Human Voice and Speech," the four authors demonstrate that speech sounds and > voices can be identified by means of a unique 'neural fingerprint' in the > listener's brain. In the future this new knowledge could be used to improve > computer systems for automatic speech and speaker recognition. > > Seven study subjects listened to three different speech sounds (the vowels > /a/, /i/ and /u/), spoken by three different people, while their brain > activity was mapped using neuroimaging techniques (fMRI). With the help of > data mining methods the researchers developed an algorithm to translate this > brain activity into unique patterns that determine the identity of a speech > sound or a voice. The various acoustic characteristics of vocal cord > vibrations (neural patterns) were found to determine the brain activity. > > Just like real fingerprints, these neural patterns are both unique and > specific: the neural fingerprint of a speech sound does not change if > uttered by somebody else and a speaker's fingerprint remains the same, even > if this person says something different. > > Moreover, this study revealed that part of the complex sound-decoding > process takes place in areas of the brain previously just associated with > the early stages of sound processing. Existing neurocognitive models assume > that processing sounds actively involves different regions of the brain > according to a certain hierarchy: after a simple processing in the auditory > cortex the more complex analysis (speech sounds into words) takes place in > specialised regions of the brain. However, the findings from this study > imply a less hierarchal processing of speech that is spread out more across > the brain. > > The research was partly funded by the Netherlands Organisation for > Scientific Research (NWO): Two of the four authors, Elia Formisano and > Milene Bonte carried out their research with an NWO grant (Vidi and Veni). > The data mining methods were developed during the PhD research of Federico > De Martino (doctoral thesis defended at Maastricht University on 24 October > 2008). > > Journal reference: > > 1. Elia Formisano, Federico De Martino, Milene Bonte, Rainer Goebel. "Who" > is Saying "What"? Brain-Based Decoding of Human Voice and Speech. Science, > November 2008 > > Adapted from materials provided by NWO (Netherlands Organization for > Scientific Research). > > > > ------------------------------------------- > agi > Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now > RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ > Modify Your Subscription: > https://www.listbox.com/member/?&; > Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com > ------------------------------------------- agi Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/303/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/303/ Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=8660244&id_secret=120640061-aded06 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
