Perceiving invisible light through a somatosensory cortical prosthesis

Lets say you have a field cut, ask your doctor what additional research and studies are needed to get this to humans. Don't be polite, being polite has caused untold delays in getting decent stroke recovery protocols. We can't continue making the same damn mistake. It may be in rats but we have to start someplace. Who would be willing to donate millions to this type of research? But that would presuppose we have a great stroke association to direct this type of stuff.
http://www.nature.com/ncomms/journal/v4/n2/full/ncomms2497.html

Nature Communications

4,

Article number:

1482

doi:10.1038/ncomms2497

Received

24 August 2012

Accepted

15 January 2013

Published

12 February 2013

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Abstract

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Sensory neuroprostheses show great potential for alleviating major sensory deficits. It is not known, however, whether such devices can augment the subject’s normal perceptual range. Here we show that adult rats can learn to perceive otherwise invisible infrared light through a neuroprosthesis that couples the output of a head-mounted infrared sensor to their somatosensory cortex (S1) via intracortical microstimulation. Rats readily learn to use this new information source, and generate active exploratory strategies to discriminate among infrared signals in their environment. S1 neurons in these infrared-perceiving rats respond to both whisker deflection and intracortical microstimulation, suggesting that the infrared representation does not displace the original tactile representation. Hence, sensory cortical prostheses, in addition to restoring normal neurological functions, may serve to expand natural perceptual capabilities in mammals.