# Boosting Brain-to-Image Decoding with TRIBE v2 Data Augmentation

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.06345 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2606.06345/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 15 of its 27 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 4 Jun 2026.

## Builds on (most cited first, 15 of 15)

- [DINOv2: Learning Robust Visual Features without Supervision](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.07193/) (2023)
- [V-JEPA 2: Self-Supervised Video Models Enable Understanding, Prediction and Planning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2506.09985/) (2025)
- [Synthetic Data from Diffusion Models Improves ImageNet Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.08466/) (2023)
- [Is synthetic data from generative models ready for image recognition?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.07574/) (2022)
- [Reconstructing the Mind's Eye: fMRI-to-Image with Contrastive Learning and Diffusion Priors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.18274/) (2023)
- [Seeing Beyond the Brain: Conditional Diffusion Model with Sparse Masked Modeling for Vision Decoding](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.06956/) (2022)
- [MindEye2: Shared-Subject Models Enable fMRI-To-Image With 1 Hour of Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2403.11207/) (2024)
- [Natural scene reconstruction from fMRI signals using generative latent diffusion](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.05334/) (2023)
- [Brain decoding: toward real-time reconstruction of visual perception](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2310.19812/) (2023)
- [BOLD5000: A public fMRI dataset of 5000 images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1809.01281/) (2018)
- [Can segmentation models be trained with fully synthetically generated data?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.08256/) (2022)
- [Scaling laws for decoding images from brain activity](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.15322/) (2025)
- [A foundation model of vision, audition, and language for in-silico neuroscience](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.04326/) (2026)
- [Dynadiff: Single-stage Decoding of Images from Continuously Evolving fMRI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.14556/) (2025)
- [Learning Sequential Information in Task-based fMRI for Synthetic Data Augmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2308.15564/) (2023)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Can a Neural Encoding Model Replicate an fMRI Visualization Study?](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2609.15685/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Brain decoding is limited by the availability of labeled neural data, and remains challenging in low-data regimes. To address this issue, we investigate whether and when brain decoding can be boosted by augmenting small fMRI datasets with synthetic data generated by a pretrained model of fMRI responses to stimuli. We use TRIBE v2, a large encoding model pretrained on more than 1000 hours of fMRI responses to video, audio and language. For each dataset, we evaluate systematic grids that show how the performance of image decoders varies with the amount of synthetic data used for training. Our results, based on two datasets (the 7T fMRI Natural Scenes Dataset and 3T fMRI BOLD5000), show up to 68% improvement in Top-10 image-retrieval accuracy compared to decoders trained only on real data. Importantly, the proportion of augmented data required to reach a given image decoding performance needs to be adjusted depending on the data source. Surprisingly, image decoders trained exclusively on synthetic fMRI can perform above chance in some settings, suggesting that TRIBE v2 can support zero-shot brain-to-image decoding. Together, these results show how large-scale models of the fMRI responses to sight, sound and language may provide a foundation to improve the data efficiency for image decoding.