Brain Scanner Records Dreams on Video. Just a few weeks ago, we posted about how brain patterns can reveal almost exactly what you're thinking. Now, researchers at UC Berkeley have figured out how to extract what you're picturing inside your head, and they can play it back on video. The way this works is very similar to the mind-reading technique that we covered earlier this month. A functional MRI (fMRI) machine watches the patterns that appear in people's brains as they watch a movie, and then correlates those patterns with the image on the screen.
With these data, a complex computer model was created to predict the relationships between a given brain pattern and a given image, and a huge database was created that matched 18,000,000 seconds worth of random YouTube videos to possible brain patterns. Comparing the brain-scan video to the original video is just a way to prove that the system works, but there's nothing stopping this technique from being used to suck video out of people's heads directly.
WikIT. Buzan Online has responded to criticism of a lack of academic studies showing the efficacy of mindmapping with a list of references on this page. None of the papers are linked to there, it's just a plain text list (Why Mr. Buzan? If you claim "The Proof is Here! ", don't you think that transparency is called for?). But before we look at that list, we need to consider "efficacy of mindmapping" for what? Comments are being added here from time to time, as the papers are read and the conclusions reached extracted. Al-Jarf, R. (2009), Enhancing Freshman students’ Writing Skills with a Mind Mapping software. The author describes a study where students were divided into two groups, one using mind maps (made with FreeMind and by hand) and one without. Boyson, G. (2009), The Use of Mind Mapping in Teaching and Learning. Cain, M. D’Antoni, A. Farrand, P., Hussain, F. and Hennessy E. (2002), The efficacy of the ‘mind map’ study technique.
Mento, A. Paykoç, F., Mengi, B., Kamay, P. Zampetakis, L. ThinkBuzan Ref. 1. Canas et al.: Concept Maps. Canas & Wilson: Managing, Mapping & Manipulating Conceptual Kn. Novak & Canas: Theory Underlying Concept Maps. Concept maps are graphical tools for organizing and representing knowledge. They include concepts, usually enclosed in circles or boxes of some type, and relationships between concepts indicated by a connecting line linking two concepts. Words on the line, referred to as linking words or linking phrases, specify the relationship between the two concepts. We define concept as a perceived regularity in events or objects, or records of events or objects, designated by a label. The label for most concepts is a word, although sometimes we use symbols such as + or %, and sometimes more than one word is used. Propositions are statements about some object or event in the universe, either naturally occurring or constructed.
Propositions contain two or more concepts connected using linking words or phrases to form a meaningful statement. Sometimes these are called semantic units, or units of meaning. Figure 1. (click on an image for a larger view) Figure 2. (click on image for a larger view) Canas & Novak: Re-examining foundation for effective use of co. Canas & Novak: Mining the Web. Sowa: Semantic Networks. John F. Sowa This is an updated version of an article in the Encyclopedia of Artificial Intelligence, edited by Stuart C. Shapiro, Wiley, 1987, second edition, 1992. Most of the text from 1992 is unchanged, but more references and updates have been added.
A semantic network or net is a graph structure for representing knowledge in patterns of interconnected nodes and arcs. Computer implementations of semantic networks were first developed for artificial intelligence and machine translation, but earlier versions have long been used in philosophy, psychology, and linguistics. What is common to all semantic networks is a declarative graphic representation that can be used to represent knowledge and support automated systems for reasoning about the knowledge.
Definitional networks emphasize the subtype or is-a relation between a concept type and a newly defined subtype. Network notations and linear notations are capable of expressing equivalent information. 1. Figure 1. Figure 2. Figure 3. Tergan: Concept maps for managing individual knowledge. Primo: On the Use of Concept Maps as an Assessm. Shum & Okada: Knowledge Mapping for Open Sensemaking.