Marcel Just’s latest efforts to decode the semantic organization of the human brain hit an apparent snag last week.
Dr. Just (shown left above) was in search of a test subject to try out some new tweaks on his fMRI decoder algorithm. This program promised a more efficient readout of neural activity from fMRI signals that could predict what a subject was thinking while in the scanner.
Ken Kotovsky (shown at right above) just happened to be walking back from Schatz when he ran into Dr. Just.
“I was just walking by, you know, and Marcel asked if I had anything to do this afternoon,” said Dr. Kotovsky, “I thought… why the hell not?”
Unfortunately, after only a few minutes in the scanner, it became apparent that something was not working properly.
“You know, it was the strangest thing,” said Dr. Just, “No matter what stimulus we gave him to think about in the scanner, we got the strangest output from the decoder.”
At this point Dr. Just holds up a list of visual stimuli presented to the test subject (Dr. Kotovsky) and the predicted image generated by the computer (shown below). ”No matter what we showed him, the computer kept coming back with images of essentially the same thing!”
No word yet as to whether the error resided in the algorithm modifications or the test subject.
I was shopping online for some new squirrel sized lederhosen for my dad’s birthday present (he loves new wardrobes to dress up his little friends) when I came across this article. I suppose next time I won’t use the search terms ‘Just Squirrels’. Anyway, in my dad’s defense, he doesn’t always think about squirrels. Growing up we certainly enjoyed our squirrel-themed bedrooms and our footy-pajamas with attached tails but not all of our time was strictly squirrel related. We spent a great deal of time doing other things like metal working, knitting and watching movies.
When I visit home, I always enjoy seeing the welding craftsmanship we put into the squirrel breeding cages in the basement. Many of the cages still have their original knitted squirrel-sized welcome mats. Additionally, his grandchildren are now enjoying many of the films I grew up with including Rat Race:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfmZSiFlgKU
Just seeing that clip brings back many memories of childhood I’ve squirreled away.
-Jack Kotovsky