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Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans are used to produce brain imaging data to evaluate dynamic brain activity by spotting minute variations in blood flow

Instead of a snapshot like an x-ray or the more popular structural MRI, he likened this type of dynamic imaging to a movie, noting that "the accessible data is so much larger, so much richer than a blood test or a standard MRI." But that's the problem, it is difficult to understand so much data.

A dataset with over 10,000 individuals served as the initial training ground for the AI models as they were taught the fundamentals of fMRI imaging and brain activity. Following that, the researchers used multi-site data sets of more than 1200 people, including those with Alzheimer's disease, schizophrenia, and an autism spectrum disorder.

How does it function? It's similar to how Facebook, YouTube, or Amazon start to learn about you from your online behaviour and start to forecast your future behaviour, likes, and dislikes. The computer programme was even able to pinpoint the precise "moment" when the brain imaging data most strongly suggested a connection to the relevant mental condition.

These discoveries must be put to use before a disorder shows up for them to be clinically helpful.

We might be able to take action if we can identify risk factors for Alzheimer's disease in a 40-year-old and predict that risk using markers, according to Calhoun.

Similar to this, there might be ways to provide better or more efficient therapies if schizophrenia risks can be recognised before there are actual changes in brain structure.

"We are still unable to anticipate when exactly it will develop, even if we know through previous testing or family history that someone is at risk of an illness like Alzheimer's," Calhoun said. Brain imaging could shorten that window by spotting the pertinent patterns as soon as they emerge before the clinical illness becomes evident.

Disclaimer: This story has been published from a newswire service and nothing except the headline has been changed by Times Now.

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Artificial Intelligence could be the future of mental illness detection - Times Now