Restoring vision by stimulating the brain Electrical stimulation of the visual cortex has long been proposed as an approach to restoring vision in blind people. Previous studies positioned electrodes on the surface of the brain and thus required delivery of relatively high currents. However, this approach limits the number of electrodes that can be safely stimulated simultaneously, and such surface electrodes activate several millimeters of cortex, which results in a low spatial resolution. Chen et al. demonstrated that the simultaneous stimulation of multiple intracortical electrodes in the monkey primary visual cortex gives rise to the perception of shape and successive stimulation to the perception of motion (see the Perspective by Beauchamp and Yoshor). This major improvement provides proof of concept for the use of electrical microstimulation to create a form of artificial vision in the blind. Science, this issue p. 1191; see also p. 1165 Electrical stimulation of the visual cortex with a neuroprosthetic device allows artificial vision with shape and motion perception. Blindness affects 40 million people across the world. A neuroprosthesis could one day restore functional vision in the blind. We implanted a 1024-channel prosthesis in areas V1 and V4 of the visual cortex of monkeys and used electrical stimulation to elicit percepts of dots of light (called phosphenes) on hundreds of electrodes, the locations of which matched the receptive fields of the stimulated neurons. Activity in area V4 predicted phosphene percepts that were elicited in V1. We simultaneously stimulated multiple electrodes to impose visible patterns composed of a number of phosphenes. The monkeys immediately recognized them as simple shapes, motions, or letters. These results demonstrate the potential of electrical stimulation to restore functional, life-enhancing vision in the blind.

中文翻译：

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通过猴子视觉皮层中的高通道数神经假体进行形状感知

通过刺激大脑恢复视力 视觉皮层的电刺激长期以来一直被认为是一种恢复盲人视力的方法。以前的研究将电极放置在大脑表面，因此需要输送相对较高的电流。然而，这种方法限制了可以同时安全刺激的电极数量，并且这种表面电极会激活几毫米的皮层，导致空间分辨率较低。陈等人。证明了猴子初级视觉皮层中多个皮层内电极的同时刺激引起了对形状的感知和对运动的感知的连续刺激（参见 Beauchamp 和 Yoshor 的观点）。这一重大改进为使用电微刺激在盲人中创造一种人工视觉形式提供了概念证明。科学，这个问题 p。第1191章 另见第 1165 使用神经假体装置对视觉皮层进行电刺激，可实现具有形状和运动感知的人工视觉。失明影响着全世界 4000 万人。神经假体有朝一日可以恢复盲人的功能性视力。我们在猴子视觉皮层的 V1 和 V4 区域植入了一个 1024 通道的假体，并使用电刺激在数百个电极上引发对光点（称为光幻视）的感知，这些电极的位置与受刺激神经元的感受野相匹配. 区域 V4 中的活动预测了在 V1 中引发的幻视感知。我们同时刺激多个电极以施加由许多光幻视组成的可见图案。猴子们立即认出了它们是简单的形状、动作或字母。这些结果证明了电刺激在恢复盲人的功能性、改善生活的视力方面的潜力。