Visual Form Perception Produced by Electrically Stimulating Human Visual Cortex

项目概要/摘要 失明使全世界数百万人残疾。在大多数情况下， 失明是由眼睛、视网膜或视神经的损伤或功能障碍引起的， 但视觉皮层没有受损，可能还能正常工作电 视觉皮层的刺激，即使是在盲人患者中，也会产生一种 被称为光幻视的不同光点长期以来， 开发一种假体装置， 恢复盲人的视力。有人推测光幻视 可以作为盲人视觉恢复的基石;但不像 在视频显示器中的像素中，多个光幻视不容易组合成 连贯的形式。我们提出了一种新的刺激模式，称为 “动态电流转向”，可以大大提高视觉的能力， 皮质修复术（VCP），以产生有用的视觉形式感知。因为 在未来几年内，几种VCP的临床试验计划迫在眉睫 多年来，现在是一个特别重要的时间来发展改进的方法， 刺激视觉皮层评估和完善动态电流导引， 一个VCP的方法，我们将衡量与此小说产生的感知 在人类癫痫患者中进行临床前测试的范例 颅内电极在目标1中，我们将测试动态电流舵作为一种新的 用于产生视觉形式的感知的方法。在目标2中，我们将优化 组件的动态电流转向，以促进连贯形式的感知。 总之，这些目标将导致一个新的范式，产生有用的感知 通过刺激视觉皮层， 可用于下一代VCP的临床试验。

Project Summary/Abstract Blindness disables millions of people across the world. In most cases, incurable blindness is caused by damage or dysfunction of the eye, retina, or optic nerve, but the visual cortex is undamaged and potentially functional. Electrical stimulation of visual cortex, even in blind patients, produces a percept of a distinct spots of light known as phosphenes. There has long been interest in developing a prosthetic device that employs direct activation of the intact visual cortex to restore vision to the blind. It has been speculated that phosphenes could serve as the building blocks for visual restoration in the blind; but unlike pixels in a video display, multiple phosphenes are not readily combined into a percept of a coherent form. We propose a novel stimulation paradigm, termed "dynamic current steering," that can dramatically enhance the ability of visual cortical prosthetics (VCPs) to produce useful percepts of visual forms. Because there are imminent plans for clinical trials of several VCPs within the next few years, now is a currently particularly important time to develop improved methods for stimulation of visual cortex. To assess and refine dynamic current steering as a methodology for a VCP, we will measure percepts produced with this novel paradigm in pre-clinical testing in human epilepsy patients with implanted intracranial electrodes. In Aim 1, we will test dynamic current steering as a novel method for producing percepts of visual forms. In Aim 2, we will optimize the components of dynamic current steering to promote perception of coherent forms. Together, these aims will result in a novel paradigm for producing useful percepts of coherent visual forms by stimulation visual cortex that will be immediately translatable in forthcoming clinical trials of the next generation of VCPs.