Real-time Reconstruction of Human Visual Perception from fMRI
Authors:
Rishab S. Iyer,
Jiaxin Cindy Tu,
Cesar Kadir Torrico Villanueva,
Anish Mahishi,
Ross P. Kempner,
Jacob S. Prince,
Ernest W. Lo,
Akash Bhowmick,
Hritik Arasu,
Amaar Chughtai,
Elizabeth A. McDevitt,
Paul S. Scotti,
Kenneth A. Norman
Abstract:
Real-time closed-loop neurofeedback based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has led to important scientific and clinical advances. However, the sophistication of the analysis methods used in real-time fMRI lags behind the state-of-the-art in fMRI decoding, largely due to computational factors: Most advanced decoding pipelines do not fit within the envelope of real-time processing, wh…
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Real-time closed-loop neurofeedback based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has led to important scientific and clinical advances. However, the sophistication of the analysis methods used in real-time fMRI lags behind the state-of-the-art in fMRI decoding, largely due to computational factors: Most advanced decoding pipelines do not fit within the envelope of real-time processing, where the analysis needs to be conducted in a matter of seconds and without leveraging data acquired later in the session. Here, we present a real-time compatible adaptation of a computationally intensive state-of-the-art pipeline for reconstructing perceived natural images (MindEye2), and we demonstrate that reliable fine-grained decoding is still achievable in this setting. Using RT-Cloud, an open-source, scalable cloud-based platform, we performed a real-time scan where we decoded single-trial visual perception within seconds after an image was shown to the participant. Finally, we use simulated analyses to document the factors driving changes in performance from offline to real-time analysis. This work serves as a proof-of-concept that it is feasible to deploy these powerful fMRI decoding pipelines in real-time analysis, paving the way for their use in brain-computer interfaces for scientific discovery and clinical treatment.
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Submitted 23 July, 2026;
originally announced July 2026.