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Can the brain effectively combine natural and artificial visions?

Macular degeneration (AMD) causes blindness in millions of people in the western world. It is the most common cause of severe vision loss in people 50 and over, and its prevalence increases with age. While there is no cure for AMD, significant recent advances in artificial retinal implants may lead to potential treatment. Until now, neurobiologists have not known whether the brain can effectively combine natural and artificial vision; a new study answers this question in the affirmative.

Located inside the eye, the retina contains light receptors (photoreceptors) that absorb light. The information is then processed and transmitted to the brain. The macula, the central area of ​​the retina, processes most of the information that reaches the brain from the eyes, making it possible to see, while reading and driving, facial recognition and any other activity requiring precise vision.

In the peripheral retina, the area outside the macula, which primarily aids spatial judgment, vision is 10 to 20 times less precise. In AMD, precise vision is impaired due to damage to the center of the retina, while peripheral vision remains normal.

Brain: it can effectively combine natural and artificial visions

When there is damage to the photoreceptor layers of the retina, an artificial retina – a device constructed from tiny electrodes that are narrower than a hair – can be implanted. Activation of these electrodes leads to electrical stimulation of the remaining retinal cells and allows visual restoration, albeit partially. Patients with AMD implanted with an artificial retina have a combination of artificial central vision and normal peripheral vision.

This combination of artificial and natural vision is important to study in order to understand how to help the blind. One of the crucial questions in this regard is whether the brain can properly integrate artificial and natural vision. In a new study published in the journal Current Biology, researchers from Bar-Ilan University and Stanford University report for the first time the discovery of evidence indicating that the brain knows how to integrate natural and artificial vision, while retaining the treatment information that is important for vision.

On the same subject : New technology to provide eyes with night vision

Towards a therapeutic solution for AMD and optimization of brain-machine interfaces

We used a unique projection system that stimulated natural vision, artificial vision or a combination of natural and artificial vision, while simultaneously recording cortical responses in rodents implanted with a subretinal implant Says Tamar Arens-Arad. The implant is made up of dozens of tiny solar cells and electrodes, developed by Professor Daniel Palanker at Stanford University.

These innovative results have implications for better vision restoration in patients with AMD implanted with retinal prostheses and support our hypothesis that prosthetic and natural vision can be integrated into the brain. The results may also have implications for future brain-machine interface applications where artificial and natural processes coexist “Concludes Yossi Mandel, head of the ophthalmic science and engineering laboratory at Bar-Ilan University.

Sources: Current Biology

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