Deep learning reveals cross-modal neural representations of auditory and visual mental imagery in MEG

Mental imagery provides a unique window into the brain's ability to internally simulate sensory experiences, offering valuable insights for both cognitive neuroscience and brain-computer interface (BCI) research. This study examined the neural representations of imagined auditory and visual stimuli using magnetoencephalography (MEG) and assessed the ability of machine learning models to decode these mental processes. MEG data were recorded from 18 right-handed participants during auditory and visual imagery tasks and source reconstructed within modality-specific cortical regions of interest. We compared a convolutional neural network (CNN) and a linear logistic regression model within a subject-specific classification framework. Both approaches achieved above-chance decoding accuracies, with the CNN outperforming the linear model in both tasks, yielding a mean decoding accuracy of >70% for the visual imagery task. Notably, the CNN achieved significant decoding performance even when trained on nontask-relevant cortical regions, indicating that imagined stimuli are represented in distributed and partially overlapping neural networks across modalities. This cross-modal decoding capability highlights the potential of deep learning models to capture complex, multimodal neural patterns and suggests that future brain-computer interfaces could benefit from integrating auditory and visual information. These findings advance our understanding of cross-modal mental imagery and point toward more flexible and personalized approaches in BCI design.NEW & NOTEWORTHY By comparing linear and deep classifiers, this work shows that convolutional networks capture rich, cross-modal neural representations of auditory and visual mental imagery in magnetoencephalography (MEG). Significant decoding from nontask-relevant regions indicates distributed cortical engagement, highlighting deep learning's potential for robust, modality-independent brain-computer interfaces.