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Lecture

Visual Prostheses: History and Intracortical Stimulation

In course

BIOENG-448: Fundamentals of neuroengineering

Neuroengineering is at the frontier between neuroscience and engineering: understanding how the brain works allows developing engineering applications and therapies of high impact, while the design of new measurement and data analysis techniques contribute ...

Description

This lecture covers the history and development of visual prostheses, including the use of intracortical microstimulation to produce phosphenes in blind individuals. It discusses the challenges and advancements in artificial vision, such as spatial resolution and visual field limitations.

Instructors (2)

Solaiman Shokur

2019 - now : Senior Scientist, Translational neuroengineering Laboratory, EPFL(Geneva) Team leader: CHRONOS project, a multi-center European project that aims at developing the first chronically implanted prosthetic hand for transradial amputee patients with bidirectional communication capabilities. NCCR Robotics: Bi-directional control of supernumerary limbs.2014-2019: Research Coordinator, AASDAP (São Paulo, Brazil) Responsible for both the scientific production and the clinical protocol at the AASDAP neurorehabilitation laboratory. 2013-2014: Postdoctoral associate, Walk again project, Insituto Santos Dumond. (Natal, RN, Brazil)Head of the engineering team in charge of the system integration. 2010-2012: Visiting scientist, Nicolelis Lab (Duke University). Development and validation of a virtual-reality based brain-machine interface for rhesus monkeys. 2007 – 2010: Teaching assistant, Laboratory of Robotics Systems (EPFL)

Silvestro Micera

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Health sciences

Ophthalmology: Topics in ophthalmology

Related concepts (32)

Visual system

The visual system comprises the sensory organ (the eye) and parts of the central nervous system (the retina containing photoreceptor cells, the optic nerve, the optic tract and the visual cortex) which gives organisms the sense of sight (the ability to detect and process visible light) as well as enabling the formation of several non-image photo response functions. It detects and interprets information from the optical spectrum perceptible to that species to "build a representation" of the surrounding environment.

Visual field

The visual field is "that portion of space in which objects are visible at the same moment during steady fixation of the gaze in one direction"; in ophthalmology and neurology the emphasis is on the structure inside the visual field and it is then considered “the field of functional capacity obtained and recorded by means of perimetry”. However, the visual field can also be understood as a predominantly perceptual concept and its definition then becomes that of the "spatial array of visual sensations available to observation in introspectionist psychological experiments" (for example in van Doorn et al.

Visual field test

A visual field test is an eye examination that can detect dysfunction in central and peripheral vision which may be caused by various medical conditions such as glaucoma, stroke, pituitary disease, brain tumours or other neurological deficits. Visual field testing can be performed clinically by keeping the subject's gaze fixed while presenting objects at various places within their visual field. Simple manual equipment can be used such as in the tangent screen test or the Amsler grid.

Visual cortex

The visual cortex of the brain is the area of the cerebral cortex that processes visual information. It is located in the occipital lobe. Sensory input originating from the eyes travels through the lateral geniculate nucleus in the thalamus and then reaches the visual cortex. The area of the visual cortex that receives the sensory input from the lateral geniculate nucleus is the primary visual cortex, also known as visual area 1 (V1), Brodmann area 17, or the striate cortex.

Visual impairment

Visual impairment, also known as vision impairment, is a medical definition primarily measured based on an individual's better eye visual acuity; in the absence of treatment such as corrective eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment– visual impairment may cause the individual difficulties with normal daily tasks including reading and walking. Low vision is a functional definition of visual impairment that is chronic, uncorrectable with treatment or conventional corrective lenses, and impacts daily living.

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Introduction primary visual cortex