The scientists were able to reconstruct various images viewed by a person by analyzing changes in their cerebral blood flow. Using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) machine, the researchers first mapped the blood flow changes that occurred in the cerebral visual cortex as subjects viewed various images held in front of their eyes. Subjects were shown 400 random 10 x 10 pixel black-and-white images for a period of 12 seconds each. While the fMRI machine monitored the changes in brain activity, a computer crunched the data and learned to associate the various changes in brain activity with the different image designs.

Then, when the test subjects were shown a completely new set of images, such as the letters N-E-U-R-O-N, the system was able to reconstruct and display what the test subjects were viewing based solely on their brain activity.

The original article was published here.

…the short-fingered ones were
born as electro-magnetic meat,
into a system that sustained, thru regeneration,
all it needed to understand itself,
all those gatherings
of storms within storms
…the short-fingered ones, those
that wound springs, & turned screws & worked bolts,
were on the way out, much like their
rock-sharpening, knuckle-dragging,
great, great grandfathers,
& their analog energy would be converted
into something else in the information soup
…there are still traces of their time-binding
in the dust of books,
tho these essences are now stored in a purer light
…they got used to the idea; they wore the bleak arrangement
on their heavy brows
…this is how they read it, & built it,
& read the building of it
…an intricate, self-referential scaffolding built
over the agreed-upon physical reality, that others
now climb along the outside of
with long-fingered keyboard dexterity
…the newest of storms
gathered within storms