A neuroengineering suite of computational tools for visual prostheses

The cooperation between neuroscience and biomedical engineering gave rise to a recent, but growing research field, known as neuroengineering. We follow its principles to have a system providing basic descriptions of the visual world to the brain's cortex. We describe a set of software and hardware tools to interface with neural tissue, in order to transmit visual information encoded into a bioinspired neural-like form. The set is composed of a retina-like encoder, and a platform to optimize electrical stimulation parameters for a multi-electrode implant. The main objective is to progress towards a functional visual neuroprosthesis for the blind.

[1]  Shy Shoham,et al.  Robust, automatic spike sorting using mixtures of multivariate t-distributions , 2003, Journal of Neuroscience Methods.

[2]  Luciano Lavagno,et al.  Simulink-Based HW/SW Codesign of Embedded Neuro-Fuzzy Systems , 2000, Int. J. Neural Syst..

[3]  Antonio Martínez-Álvarez,et al.  Automatic Generation of Bio-inspired Retina-Like Processing Hardware , 2005, IWANN.

[4]  R. Normann,et al.  Population coding in spike trains of simultaneously recorded retinal ganglion cells 1 1 Published on the World Wide Web on 7 November 2000. , 2000, Brain Research.

[5]  R. H. Propst,et al.  Visual perception elicited by electrical stimulation of retina in blind humans. , 1996, Archives of ophthalmology.

[6]  Christof Koch,et al.  A Model of Saliency-Based Visual Attention for Rapid Scene Analysis , 2009 .

[7]  David M. Santucci,et al.  Learning to Control a Brain–Machine Interface for Reaching and Grasping by Primates , 2003, PLoS biology.

[8]  W. Pitts,et al.  What the Frog's Eye Tells the Frog's Brain , 1959, Proceedings of the IRE.

[9]  Zhaoping Li.  A saliency map in primary visual cortex , 2002, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[10]  M. V. Velzen,et al.  Self-organizing maps , 2007 .

[11]  Antonio Martínez-Álvarez,et al.  Translating Image Sequences into Spike Patterns for Cortical Neuro-Stimulation , 2004, Neurocomputing.

[12]  W. Dobelle,et al.  Phosphenes produced by electrical stimulation of human occipital cortex, and their application to the development of a prosthesis for the blind , 1974, The Journal of physiology.

[13]  K. Najafi,et al.  A Modular 32-site wireless neural stimulation microsystem , 2004, IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits.

[14]  D. J. Warren,et al.  A neural interface for a cortical vision prosthesis , 1999, Vision Research.

[15]  R. Shepherd,et al.  CENTRAL AUDITORY PROSTHESES , 2004 .

[16]  Antonio Martínez-Álvarez,et al.  A Computational Tool to Test Neuromorphic Encoding Schemes for Visual Neuroprostheses , 2005, IWANN.

[17]  David Bradley,et al.  A model for intracortical visual prosthesis research. , 2003, Artificial organs.

[18]  Eduardo Fernandez,et al.  High-resolution spatio-temporal mapping of visual pathways using multi-electrode arrays , 2001, Vision Research.

[19]  C. Kufta,et al.  Feasibility of a visual prosthesis for the blind based on intracortical microstimulation of the visual cortex. , 1996, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[20]  Alan F. Murray,et al.  IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference , 2001 .

[21]  J. Mortimer,et al.  Visual sensations produced by optic nerve stimulation using an implanted self-sizing spiral cuff electrode , 1998, Brain Research.

[22]  G. Brindley,et al.  The sensations produced by electrical stimulation of the visual cortex , 1968, The Journal of physiology.