Scientists have managed to extract the famous Pink Floyd song “Another Brick in the Wall” directly from people’s brains, in a development that seems straight out of a science fiction movie. The study, published on August 15 in PLOS Biology, demonstrates that music can be decoded from brain activity, shedding light on how different areas of the brain process various acoustic elements. This discovery could potentially lead to advancements in communication devices for individuals with paralysis or other conditions that affect speech.
To decode the song, a team of researchers led by neuroscientist Ludovic Bellier from the University of California, Berkeley, analyzed the brain activity of 29 epilepsy patients who had electrodes implanted in their brains. While undergoing monitoring in the hospital, these individuals listened to the rock song from 1979.
The researchers discovered that the participants’ nerve cells, particularly those in the auditory areas, responded to the song. The electrodes not only detected neural signals associated with words, but also rhythm, harmony, and other musical aspects. Using this information, the team developed a computer model to recreate sounds based on the brain activity data, successfully producing sounds that resembled the original song.
2023-08-15 13:00:00
Source from www.sciencenews.org