Scientists have enable a completelyblindSpanish woman to see basic shapes by identify an electrode array directly onto hervisual cortex . This allow the researchers to stimulate specific groups of neurons , resulting in the propagation of earthy images in the patient ’s field of imagination .
report their finding in theJournal of Clinical Investigation , the study source described how they tuck the implant into the brain of a 57 - twelvemonth - old military volunteer who had been fully blind for 16 years . The machine ’s 96 electrode were strategically place in orderliness to allow the electrical activation of the patient ’s “ retinotopic map ” , which lie of nerve cell that are spatially arranged to tally with period in the visual field of view .
Stimulating these nerve cell produce basic form sleep with as phosphenes , which are made up of white points or lines of light . Sometimes referred to as “ floaters ” , these unknown apparitions are often experience after we rub our eyes or look at a bright promiscuous source . allot to the study author , it select the patient two calendar month of daily training before she was capable to discriminate between self-generated phosphenes and those mother by theimplant .
Over time , however , she became more proficient at identifying the flesh raise by the equipment , and was finally able-bodied to make out distinct shape . For case , by stimulate specific neurons within her retinotopic mapping , the researchers were able to make phosphenes that face like letters .
Eventually , the patient was able to notice the letters I , L , C , quintet , and O with 70 per centum accuracy . However , the study authors say that “ [ a]lthough several combination of electrode evoke perceptions that resembled letters ( such as an inverted ‘ U ’ or a revolve ‘ liothyronine ’ ) , we were unable to induce the sensing of all the letters of the first rudiment . ”
The researcher also designed a game in which the patient had to determine whether an animation show Maggie Simpson shooting to the left or the rightfulness , while the electrode stimulated the appropriate neurons in social club to let out the direction of movement .
Toward the end of the six - month experiment , the work source equipped the patient with a head - mount photographic camera that converted ocular input into signals that were sent to the electrodes , thus allowing her to “ head scan ” the objects in front of her . Using this gadget , she was able to make out a serial publication of bootleg and blank bars publish on a strip of cardboard and could identify a white square that appeared in random location on a black CRT screen .
In astatement , study author Eduardo Fernández explained that “ these outcome are very exciting because they demonstrate both safety and efficaciousness and could aid to accomplish a long - held dream of many scientists , which is the transfer info from the outside world forthwith to the visual cerebral mantle of blind individuals , thereby restore a rudimentary configuration of sight . ”
In malice of this , however , he assert that there is still a lot of employment to do before this technology can be used to help repair vision in unsighted people . “ [ W]e should be aware that there are still a numeral of important unanswered questions and that many job have to be solved before a cortical visual prosthesis can be consider a executable clinical therapy , ” he said .
