Meikle Sabrina J, Wong Yan T
Department of Electrical and Computer Systems Engineering, Monash University, 14 Alliance Lane, Clayton, Vic, 3800, Australia.
Department of Physiology and Biomedicine Discovery Institute, Monash University, 14 Alliance Lane, Clayton, Vic, 3800, Australia.
Brain Struct Funct. 2022 May;227(4):1523-1543. doi: 10.1007/s00429-021-02417-2. Epub 2021 Nov 13.
Neural implants have the potential to restore visual capabilities in blind individuals by electrically stimulating the neurons of the visual system. This stimulation can produce visual percepts known as phosphenes. The ideal location of electrical stimulation for achieving vision restoration is widely debated and dependent on the physiological properties of the targeted tissue. Here, the neurophysiology of several potential target structures within the visual system will be explored regarding their benefits and downfalls in producing phosphenes. These regions will include the lateral geniculate nucleus, primary visual cortex, visual area 2, visual area 3, visual area 4 and the middle temporal area. Based on the existing engineering limitations of neural prostheses, we anticipate that electrical stimulation of any singular brain region will be incapable of achieving high-resolution naturalistic perception including color, texture, shape and motion. As improvements in visual acuity facilitate improvements in quality of life, emulating naturalistic vision should be one of the ultimate goals of visual prostheses. To achieve this goal, we propose that multiple brain areas will need to be targeted in unison enabling different aspects of vision to be recreated.
神经植入物有潜力通过电刺激视觉系统的神经元来恢复盲人的视觉能力。这种刺激可以产生被称为光幻视的视觉感知。实现视力恢复的电刺激理想位置存在广泛争议，并且取决于目标组织的生理特性。在此，将探讨视觉系统内几个潜在目标结构的神经生理学，涉及其在产生光幻视方面的优点和缺点。这些区域将包括外侧膝状体、初级视觉皮层、视觉区2、视觉区3、视觉区4和颞中区。基于神经假体现有的工程限制，我们预计对任何单个脑区的电刺激都无法实现包括颜色、纹理、形状和运动在内的高分辨率自然视觉感知。由于视敏度的提高有助于生活质量的改善，模拟自然视觉应该是视觉假体的最终目标之一。为了实现这一目标，我们建议需要同时针对多个脑区，以使视觉的不同方面得以重现。
