'The Matrix' is a step closer to reality; Neuroscientists break code on sight: "Now, neuroscientists in the McGovern Institute at MIT have been able to decipher a part of the code involved in recognizing visual objects. Practically speaking, computer algorithms used in artificial vision systems might benefit from mimicking these newly uncovered codes.

The study, a collaboration between James DiCarlo's and Tomaso Poggio's labs, appears in the Nov. 4 issue of Science.

'We want to know how the brain works to create intelligence,' said Poggio, the Eugene McDermott Professor in Brain Sciences and Human Behavior. 'Our ability to recognize objects in the visual world is among the most complex problems the brain must solve. Computationally, it is much harder than reasoning.' Yet we take it for granted because it appears to happen automatically and almost unconsciously.

'This work enhances our understanding of how the brain encodes visual information in a useful format for brain regions involved in action, planning and memory,' said DiCarlo, an assistant professor of neuroscience. "