Researchers have discovered the brain can integrate natural and artificial vision, while maintaining processing information, to create complete vision. During the study, the team used a projections system that simulated natural vision, artificial vision or a combination of both.
The team, comprised of researchers from Bar-Ilan University and Stanford University, used lab rats to study whether the brain can process artificial and normal vision at the same time. They used a subretinal implant made of dozens of tiny solar cells and electrodes, created by Daniel Palanker at Stanford. The results showed that the rat brains were able to successfully process normal and artificial vision at the same time, creating restored vision. This was the first time that researchers have found that the brain can create vision out of normal and artificial images.
Understanding how the brain processes the combination of artificial and natural vision is important to understanding how blind individuals could possibly regain sight. This is a positive step towards the development of other brain-machine interface technology.
This kind of technology would be helpful for people with age-related muscular degeneration (AMD). AMD causes blindness in millions of adults and it is one of the most common causes of vision loss worldwide among people who are 50 years old or older. Currently, there is no cure for AMD. An AMD patient's precise vision, or the vision in the middle of the retina, is impaired while their peripheral vision, on the outside of the retina, is normal.
To combat AMD, an artificial retina could be implemented onto the damaged photoreceptor layers in the organic retina. When the electrodes on the artificial retina are activated, the electrical stimulation jolts the remaining retinal cells, partially restoring vision. AMD patients who used an artificial retina have an artificial central vision and normal peripheral vision.
This study was published in Current Biology.
