4,036 research outputs found
Brain-mediated Transfer Learning of Convolutional Neural Networks
The human brain can effectively learn a new task from a small number of
samples, which indicate that the brain can transfer its prior knowledge to
solve tasks in different domains. This function is analogous to transfer
learning (TL) in the field of machine learning. TL uses a well-trained feature
space in a specific task domain to improve performance in new tasks with
insufficient training data. TL with rich feature representations, such as
features of convolutional neural networks (CNNs), shows high generalization
ability across different task domains. However, such TL is still insufficient
in making machine learning attain generalization ability comparable to that of
the human brain. To examine if the internal representation of the brain could
be used to achieve more efficient TL, we introduce a method for TL mediated by
human brains. Our method transforms feature representations of audiovisual
inputs in CNNs into those in activation patterns of individual brains via their
association learned ahead using measured brain responses. Then, to estimate
labels reflecting human cognition and behavior induced by the audiovisual
inputs, the transformed representations are used for TL. We demonstrate that
our brain-mediated TL (BTL) shows higher performance in the label estimation
than the standard TL. In addition, we illustrate that the estimations mediated
by different brains vary from brain to brain, and the variability reflects the
individual variability in perception. Thus, our BTL provides a framework to
improve the generalization ability of machine-learning feature representations
and enable machine learning to estimate human-like cognition and behavior,
including individual variability
Deep Neural Networks and Brain Alignment: Brain Encoding and Decoding (Survey)
How does the brain represent different modes of information? Can we design a
system that automatically understands what the user is thinking? Such questions
can be answered by studying brain recordings like functional magnetic resonance
imaging (fMRI). As a first step, the neuroscience community has contributed
several large cognitive neuroscience datasets related to passive
reading/listening/viewing of concept words, narratives, pictures and movies.
Encoding and decoding models using these datasets have also been proposed in
the past two decades. These models serve as additional tools for basic research
in cognitive science and neuroscience. Encoding models aim at generating fMRI
brain representations given a stimulus automatically. They have several
practical applications in evaluating and diagnosing neurological conditions and
thus also help design therapies for brain damage. Decoding models solve the
inverse problem of reconstructing the stimuli given the fMRI. They are useful
for designing brain-machine or brain-computer interfaces. Inspired by the
effectiveness of deep learning models for natural language processing, computer
vision, and speech, recently several neural encoding and decoding models have
been proposed. In this survey, we will first discuss popular representations of
language, vision and speech stimuli, and present a summary of neuroscience
datasets. Further, we will review popular deep learning based encoding and
decoding architectures and note their benefits and limitations. Finally, we
will conclude with a brief summary and discussion about future trends. Given
the large amount of recently published work in the `computational cognitive
neuroscience' community, we believe that this survey nicely organizes the
plethora of work and presents it as a coherent story.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure
Large-scale Foundation Models and Generative AI for BigData Neuroscience
Recent advances in machine learning have made revolutionary breakthroughs in
computer games, image and natural language understanding, and scientific
discovery. Foundation models and large-scale language models (LLMs) have
recently achieved human-like intelligence thanks to BigData. With the help of
self-supervised learning (SSL) and transfer learning, these models may
potentially reshape the landscapes of neuroscience research and make a
significant impact on the future. Here we present a mini-review on recent
advances in foundation models and generative AI models as well as their
applications in neuroscience, including natural language and speech, semantic
memory, brain-machine interfaces (BMIs), and data augmentation. We argue that
this paradigm-shift framework will open new avenues for many neuroscience
research directions and discuss the accompanying challenges and opportunities
Decoding the consumer’s brain: Neural representations of consumer experience
Understanding consumer experience – what consumers think about brands, how they feel about services, whether they like certain products – is crucial to marketing practitioners. ‘Neuromarketing’, as the application of neuroscience in marketing research is called, has generated excitement with the promise of understanding consumers’ minds by probing their brains directly. Recent advances in neuroimaging analysis leverage machine learning and pattern classification techniques to uncover patterns from neuroimaging data that can be associated with thoughts and feelings. In this dissertation, I measure brain responses of consumers by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in order to ‘decode’ their mind. In three different studies, I have demonstrated how different aspects of consumer experience can be studied with fMRI recordings. First, I study how consumers think about brand image by comparing their brain responses during passive viewing of visual templates (photos depicting various social scenarios) to those during active visualizing of a brand’s image. Second, I use brain responses during viewing of affective pictures to decode emotional responses during watching of movie-trailers. Lastly, I examine whether marketing videos that evoke s
Modeling Semantic Encoding in a Common Neural Representational Space
Encoding models for mapping voxelwise semantic tuning are typically estimated separately for each individual, limiting their generalizability. In the current report, we develop a method for estimating semantic encoding models that generalize across individuals. Functional MRI was used to measure brain responses while participants freely viewed a naturalistic audiovisual movie. Word embeddings capturing agent-, action-, object-, and scene-related semantic content were assigned to each imaging volume based on an annotation of the film. We constructed both conventional within-subject semantic encoding models and between-subject models where the model was trained on a subset of participants and validated on a left-out participant. Between-subject models were trained using cortical surface-based anatomical normalization or surface-based whole-cortex hyperalignment. We used hyperalignment to project group data into an individual’s unique anatomical space via a common representational space, thus leveraging a larger volume of data for out-of-sample prediction while preserving the individual’s fine-grained functional–anatomical idiosyncrasies. Our findings demonstrate that anatomical normalization degrades the spatial specificity of between-subject encoding models relative to within-subject models. Hyperalignment, on the other hand, recovers the spatial specificity of semantic tuning lost during anatomical normalization, and yields model performance exceeding that of within-subject models
- …