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Machine translation of cortical activity to text with encoder–decoder framework

nature.com

11–20 of 93 posts

Re: Machine translation of cortical activity to text with encoder–decoder framework

#11
post #7
post #5

Looks like a good approach and the error rate of 3% is really good, I guess. Did they mention how they got the input data? I couldn't find it.

They use 250 ECG electrodes as input. I think that means it's above the skin, so not invasive.

I dearly hope this is the case. Even if it were expensive to rig up, being able to not use my hands for computer work would really help( I have RSI).

Re: Machine translation of cortical activity to text with encoder–decoder framework

#12
post #7
post #5

Looks like a good approach and the error rate of 3% is really good, I guess. Did they mention how they got the input data? I couldn't find it.

They use 250 ECG electrodes as input. I think that means it's above the skin, so not invasive.

You are mistaken. They use ECoG which is intracranial electroencephalography. These are electrodes placed on exposed surface of the brain. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrocorticography

Re: Machine translation of cortical activity to text with encoder–decoder framework

#13

Really cool to see progress made here but this won't be available for public use any time soon (likely decades). One of the biggest challenges with decoding brain signals is getting a large number sensors that detect voltages from a very localized region of the brain. This study was done with ECoG (Eletro-Cortico-Gram) which involves implanting small electrodes directly on the surface of the brain. Nearly all consume…

> Its really hard to pick up these signals reliably with EEG.

If I may add : EEG is also a pain to put in place (you have to put gel, correctly put the cap etc.) and it's very easy to pollute your signal by merely moving a bit or even blinking.

Re: Machine translation of cortical activity to text with encoder–decoder framework

#14

Really cool to see progress made here but this won't be available for public use any time soon (likely decades). One of the biggest challenges with decoding brain signals is getting a large number sensors that detect voltages from a very localized region of the brain. This study was done with ECoG (Eletro-Cortico-Gram) which involves implanting small electrodes directly on the surface of the brain. Nearly all consume…

What's your opinion on Neuralink?

Re: Machine translation of cortical activity to text with encoder–decoder framework

#15

Really cool to see progress made here but this won't be available for public use any time soon (likely decades). One of the biggest challenges with decoding brain signals is getting a large number sensors that detect voltages from a very localized region of the brain. This study was done with ECoG (Eletro-Cortico-Gram) which involves implanting small electrodes directly on the surface of the brain. Nearly all consume…

Stupid question but could you do something very simple like on/off-switch with EEG and something similar than what they have done here?

Re: Machine translation of cortical activity to text with encoder–decoder framework

#16
post #2

Can we remove the tracking query-string from this link, please? It works fine without it: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-020-0608-8.epdf Edit. Sorry, seems to only show the first page if you remove the token.

Not only that, if you don't run the trackjs script, the pdf won't load at all. Sorry but a hard pass from me. Don't track my reading.

Re: Machine translation of cortical activity to text with encoder–decoder framework

#17

Really cool to see progress made here but this won't be available for public use any time soon (likely decades). One of the biggest challenges with decoding brain signals is getting a large number sensors that detect voltages from a very localized region of the brain. This study was done with ECoG (Eletro-Cortico-Gram) which involves implanting small electrodes directly on the surface of the brain. Nearly all consume…

What's your opinion on Neuralink?

Neuralink is even more speculative - they want to embed like a thousand tiny metal filaments deep into your brain.

Re: Machine translation of cortical activity to text with encoder–decoder framework

#18

Really cool to see progress made here but this won't be available for public use any time soon (likely decades). One of the biggest challenges with decoding brain signals is getting a large number sensors that detect voltages from a very localized region of the brain. This study was done with ECoG (Eletro-Cortico-Gram) which involves implanting small electrodes directly on the surface of the brain. Nearly all consume…

I doubt this very much.

Sparse signal reconstruction is a massive and very possible thing to do using IIRC various forms of FFT.

I think this has already been done, and probably consumer devices will be using sparsity to reconstruct cortical signals with sufficient detail for this.

Re: Machine translation of cortical activity to text with encoder–decoder framework

#19

Really cool to see progress made here but this won't be available for public use any time soon (likely decades). One of the biggest challenges with decoding brain signals is getting a large number sensors that detect voltages from a very localized region of the brain. This study was done with ECoG (Eletro-Cortico-Gram) which involves implanting small electrodes directly on the surface of the brain. Nearly all consume…

No, actually high density electrode implants are right around the corner. Watch the neuralink press event.

Re: Machine translation of cortical activity to text with encoder–decoder framework

#20
It looks cool, but they trained their models on people reading printed sentences out loud.

Would that actually translate to decoding the process of turning abstract thoughts into words?

The researchers also note that their models are vulnerable to over-fitting because of the paucity of training data, and they only used a 250-word vocabulary. Neuralink also has a strong commercial incentive to inflate the results, so I'm not too sure about this.

It's great to see progress in these areas, but it seems that technologies like eye-tracking and P300 spellers are probably going to be more reliable and less invasive for quite some time.

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