Therefore, moving forward, the team plans to do more experimentation on the device and its functionality, with the end goal being to give more blind individuals the chance at gaining sight, even if artificial. Gómez's participation in the project, however, also showed some shortcomings of the device – including the fact that she wasn't able to discern some letters including I, L, C, V, and O. "We have taken a significant step forward, showing the potential of these types of devices to restore functional vision for people who have lost their sight." "These results are very exciting because they demonstrate both safety and efficacy," said Eduardo Fernández of Miguel Hernández University, one of the project's lead researchers. Gómez had the implant for six months without experiencing any complications or disruptions to her regular brain activity. Not only did Gómez succeed in the game, but her input and feedback was considered so precise that she was even named as one of the co-authors of the study.
#Spell hopefully series#
In one of the activities, she was made to play a simple game involving Maggie Simpson from the popular cartoon series The Simpson, with the objective being that she had to identify which hand Maggie held a gun in throughout a series of pictures shown. IMAGE: The Journal of Clinical Investigation This was then followed by a training period whereby Gómez learned to decipher the information fed from the camera, through the implant, and into her brain. IMAGE: EurekAlert!įirst, a neurosurgeon implanted a microelectrode array into the participant's visual cortex, which was then linked up to a video camera mounted on the center of a pair of glasses she was given to wear. Berna Gómez trying to identify the edges of a rectangle while using the device.
The implant was tested on teacher Berna Gómez – who'd been blind for the past 16 years, and successfully enabled her to see shapes and the outlines of letters, and even play a simple video game during observation.Īccording to the study's abstract published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, the device worked by sending visual information directly to her visual cortex, which essentially meant that the brain was receiving info about light artificially, bypassing the use of eyes. Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah – have successfully created a tiny brain implant that could spell hope for the blind community.
Scientists from three universities – University Miguel Hernández in Spain, the Netherlands Institute of Neuroscience, and the John A.
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