Primate Testing of a Cortical Visual Prosthesis

We report on behavioral experiments to test a cortical visual prosthesis. 117 iridium electrodes, used for both recording and electrical stimulation, were implanted in V1 of a rhesus monkey. In recording tests, a visual receptive field (corresponding to the combined field of the neurons sampled by the electrode) was mapped for 62 of the electrodes. The monkey was then trained to saccade to electrically stimulated phosphenes, whose locations were known from the mapped receptive fields. The endpoint of saccades was significantly correlated (p<.05) with the receptive field locations. These results suggest the potential value of animal models for prosthetic development