A new brain decoding method called mind captioning can generate accurate text descriptions of what a person is seeing or recalling—without relying on the brain's language system.

Researchers at the UC Davis Center for Mind and Brain mapped hundreds of images (far left) by eye tracking (center left), "meaning" (center right) and salience or outstanding features (far left).

The idea that your thoughts could someday be written out on a page feels strange at first, especially if you know the weight of being unable to speak. For people living with conditions that limit ...