Perceived intensity of somatosensory cortical electrical stimulation

Artificial sensations can be produced by direct brain stimulation of sensory areas through implanted microelectrodes, but the perceptual psychophysics of such artificial sensations are not well understood. Based on prior work in cortical stimulation, we hypothesized that perceived intensity of electrical stimulation may be explained by the population response of the neurons affected by the stimulus train. To explore this hypothesis, we modeled perceived intensity of a stimulation pulse train with a leaky neural integrator. We then conducted a series of two-alternative forced choice behavioral experiments in which we systematically tested the ability of rats to discriminate frequency, amplitude, and duration of electrical pulse trains delivered to the whisker barrel somatosensory cortex. We found that the model was able to predict the performance of the animals, supporting the notion that perceived intensity can be largely accounted for by spatiotemporal integration of the action potentials evoked by the stimulus train

IFESS 2005 Special Session 5 Artifical Vision

A special session on visual prostheses was held during the Annual Meeting of the International Functional Electrical Stimulation Society (IFESS), in Montreal, Canada, July 5-9, 2005. IFESS is a meeting that typically attracts researchers in implantable nerve stimulators, functional electrical stimulation, and rehabilitation. All of these areas have significant overlap with the retinal prosthesis, but these areas have decades of research behind them. The special session provided a forum for researchers with vast experience in nerve stimulation to interact with leading research in retinal and cortical visual prostheses. The grant paid for the travel and conference costs of the presenters in the session. The session was chaired by James Weiland (the PI on this grant). The session co-chair was Phil Troyk, Ph.D., from the Illinois Institute of Technology. The Department of Energy was acknowledged at the start of the session as the sponsor. The following talks were delivered: Clinical Trial of a Prototype Retinal Prosthesis James Weiland, Ph.D. Doheny Eye Institute, Los Angeles, California The U.S. Department of Energy's Artificial Sight Program Elias Greenbaum, Ph.D. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee A 16-Channel stimulator ASIC for use in an intracortical visual prosthesis Phillip R. Troyk, Ph.D. Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois Two approaches to the Optic Nerve Visual Prosthesis Jean Delbeke, M.D. University Cath de Louvain, Louvain, Belgium Design and Implementation of High Power Efficiency Modules for a Cortical Visual Stimulator Mohammad Sawan, Ph.D. Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal, Montreal, Canada Remaining funds from the grant were used to support Dr. Weiland's travel to the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology in May 2006, with DOE approval, where several projects, supported by the DOE artificial retina program, were presented