In the mind of a fly

[Plazma Inferno!]

Neuroscientists at Northwestern University created a new technology that allowed them to successfully read the mind of flies.
This technology lights up the brains of Drosophila melanogaster when their neurons communicate about sensory experiences (when smelling the bananas, for example), so the researchers can “read” what a fly has experienced by looking at their brains hours later.
The main goal - Providing insights into the computational processes that occur in human brains.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113411204/scientists-can-now-read-the-mind-of-a-fly-120615/

 

[Spellbound]

This thread comes from the mind of a fly.

 

[C C]

This technology lights up the brains of Drosophila melanogaster when their neurons communicate about sensory experiences (when smelling the bananas, for example), so the researchers can “read” what a fly has experienced by looking at their brains hours later.

Interesting from the standpoint that neural correlates of consciousness can be established without the verbal reports of humans, as well as clarifying that all-along the establishment of NCCs would amount to "mind-reading". As long as the organism's senses really are focused on what is being environmentally offered in each instance for calibrating the technology to decipher that particular individual's brain patterns.

That's kind of a given for any animals that live near-completely in the present or don't have much introspective activity to distract them from immediate circumstances. While OTOH, I've witnessed dogs obstinately refuse to pay attention to an introduced item because they automatically construe some other familiar activity as being the case instead (or are just distracted by believing it's meal time, etc). No doubt, though, higher-level animals would all be conditioned beforehand that concentrating upon what is sequentially presented while in the lab or instrument set-up IS the applicable routine.

 

[timojin]

Neuroscientists at Northwestern University created a new technology that allowed them to successfully read the mind of flies.
This technology lights up the brains of Drosophila melanogaster when their neurons communicate about sensory experiences (when smelling the bananas, for example), so the researchers can “read” what a fly has experienced by looking at their brains hours later.
The main goal - Providing insights into the computational processes that occur in human brains.
http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1113411204/scientists-can-now-read-the-mind-of-a-fly-120615/

I wonder how can they make a wire contact to the fly , what kind of wires they used to induce a signal .

 

[DaveC426913]

This thread comes from the mind of a fly.

Is that really necessary?

He posted about an article with some interesting information.

Why ya gotta fling poo?

 

[Spellbound]

Is that really necessary?

He posted about an article with some interesting information.

Why ya gotta fling poo?

You're right I apologize. It was inappropriate.

What are your thoughts on neural correlates of consciousness? And the fact that it is present in flies?

 

[exchemist]

You're right I apologize. It was inappropriate.

What are your thoughts on neural correlates of consciousness? And the fact that it is present in flies?

It means nothing remarkable whatsoever. All this journalistic guff about the "mind" of a fly is misplaced. They mean "brain" and should have said "brain", if they were not trying to spin the article in sensational fashion.

All that has been done is to illuminate (literally, via fluorescence) the wiring of the fly's brain, - not "mind" - to show which bits of the brain are involved in different senses: smell vs. heat vs. light.

They have done nothing that even shows how smelling a banana compares with smelling a fish, say.

Doctors have been able to do what they have done for the human brain for years. We know what bits are involved in the sense of hearing and in sight and so on. But nobody starts blithering on about reading the "mind" of a person that way.

The clever bit is the fluorescent technique used, achieved by genetic engineering.

And, by the way, they have to kill the fly and slice up its brain to "read" it anyway. So much for "mind reading" .

 

[exchemist]

Interesting from the standpoint that neural correlates of consciousness can be established without the verbal reports of humans, as well as clarifying that all-along the establishment of NCCs would amount to "mind-reading". As long as the organism's senses really are focused on what is being environmentally offered in each instance for calibrating the technology to decipher that particular individual's brain patterns.

That's kind of a given for any animals that live near-completely in the present or don't have much introspective activity to distract them from immediate circumstances. While OTOH, I've witnessed dogs obstinately refuse to pay attention to an introduced item because they automatically construe some other familiar activity as being the case instead (or are just distracted by believing it's meal time, etc). No doubt, though, higher-level animals would all be conditioned beforehand that concentrating upon what is sequentially presented while in the lab or instrument set-up IS the applicable routine.

What do you mean by "neural correlates of consciousness"? Sounds like an unnecessarily complicated way of saying "neural patterns". This is nothing anywhere close to mind reading.

 

[C C]

What do you mean by "neural correlates of consciousness"?

NCCs were coined by Francis Crick and Christof Koch circa the early 1990s. They've gradually become part of the parlance and focus since then.

http://cognet.mit.edu/book/neural-correlates-of-consciousness
http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Neural_correlates_of_consciousness
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364661309000667

Sounds like an unnecessarily complicated way of saying "neural patterns".

Most "neural patterns" may have little to do with conscious percepts, remembering or thinking in a visual / aural mode, etc. Thus the distinction or sub-division. But likewise, not all the "decodings" and recognitions via the technology of these projects my revolve around interest in NCCs, either. But it's taken to be the class of brain patterns that "mind-reading" declarations would usually be identifying either broadly or more specifically.

This is nothing anywhere close to mind reading.

Goddard's rocketry wasn't the Moon landing, either. But this research isn't anything new; work has been proceeding for a dozen years or thereabouts. Was just surprising that they're targeting insects now.

Mind-reading technology speeds ahead
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/mind-reading-technology-speeds-ahead/

Michio Kaku, "Videos of the Mind" and "Reading the Mind" sections:
http://mkaku.org/home/articles/excerpt-from-the-future-of-the-mind/