NEUROSCIENTISTS are claiming a breakthrough after they managed to digitally "reconstruct" a song by iconic rock band Pink Floyd simply by analysing the brain activity of listeners in a study.
Twenty-nine people were undergoing monitoring for epileptic seizures using tiny arrays of electrodes placed on the surface of their brain, with the signals captured while they listened to the 1979 classic Another Brick in the Wall as they underwent surgery.
The researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, then used machine learning to reconstruct "garbled but distinctive audio of what the participants were hearing".
It's the first study to suggest that scientists may be able in the future to "eavesdrop on the brain to synthesise music", according to a report in Scientific American.
AI models analysed patterns in the brain's response to different components such as pitch, tone and rhythm, with the reconstruction said to have its melody "roughly intact".
Lead author Ludovic Bellier said they chose that particular artist and song because the music is "very layered, it brings in complex chords, different instruments and diverse rhythms that make it interesting to analyse".
"The less scientific reason might be that we just really like Pink Floyd," he added.
The study was published in the PLOS Biology journal - HERE.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 24 Aug 23
To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 24 Aug 23
