LSA Fellows 4

Retinal implants (RI) are electronic devices that are implanted in the eyes of blind patients in order to restore rudimentary visual perception. RI stimulate still intact retinal ganglion cells in patients who have lost visual receptor cell function. In this way, visual function can be restored to some degree. However, RI-vision is severely limited, so that patients need to learn to recognize objects and scenes with their newfound vision.

Here, we want to develop a training program that optimizes learning of object discriminations for RI-patients. We want to achieve this by optimizing object presentation for RI-perception in various ways. A central aim is that object recognition generalizes to novel untrained views to enable transfer of learning to everyday situations. To reduce unnecessary testing burden for patients, we initially will simulate RI-vision by reducing spatial resolution, field of view and implementing specific distortions in object pictures shown to observers with intact vision.

The final aim is to develop a training program that will help RI patients after implantation to make optimal use of their newfound vision.