Scientists reconstruct Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 1” in new brain study
Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 1” may one day help people who are unable to communicate and share their thoughts with others.
The Wall Street Journal reports the tune was part of a study by neuroscientists at University of California, Berkley, which may one day lead to the creation of a device that could express a person’s thoughts out loud, in order to help folks with brain injuries.
In the study, 29 patients undergoing brain surgery were played the song. Thanks to electrodes placed on different regions of the brain, scientists were able to reconstruct the tune using recordings of the brain activity. While the results didn’t sound exactly like the song, it was enough that you could recognize it.
As for the choice of using “Another Brick in the Wall, Part 1,” it turns out the researchers were Pink Floyd fans.
Ludovic Bellier, a computational neuroscientist who was one of the study’s authors, said that “Part 1” is “something that people are kind of familiar with, but not everyone has heard it” since it’s not as well-known as the other two parts of the track. He notes, “It’s kind of in a sweet spot of familiarity.”
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