Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34482000›Full record

ArticleBrain stimulation

Multi-electrode stimulation evokes consistent spatial patterns of phosphenes and improves phosphene mapping in blind subjects.

Denise Oswalt, William Bosking, Ping Sun, Sameer A Sheth, Soroush Niketeghad, Michelle Armenta Salas, Uday Patel, Robert Greenberg, Jessy Dorn, Nader Pouratian and 2 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Brain stimulation. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
25citing papers in PubMed
2.8field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

25 citing papers in PubMed, 41 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Review
  3. Article
  4. Motion perception with visual prostheses.Progress in biomedical engineering (Bristol, England) · 2026
    Review
  5. Neural population dynamics of direct electrical stimulation of neocortex.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025
    Article
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Neurosurgery and the Brain-Computer Interface.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2024
    Review
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.

Denise OswaltDepartment of Neurosurgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA. Electronic address: denise.oswalt@pennmedicine.upenn.edu.
William BoskingDepartment of Neurosurgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Ping SunDepartment of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
Sameer A ShethDepartment of Neurosurgery, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
Soroush NiketeghadDepartment of Neurosurgery, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Michelle Armenta SalasDepartment of Neurosurgery, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Uday PatelSecond Sight Medical Products, Sylmar, CA, USA.
Robert GreenbergSecond Sight Medical Products, Sylmar, CA, USA.
Jessy DornSecond Sight Medical Products, Sylmar, CA, USA.
Nader PouratianDepartment of Neurological Surgery, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX, USA.
Michael BeauchampDepartment of Neurosurgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Daniel YoshorDepartment of Neurosurgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
University of Pennsylvania · USSecond Sight Medical Products · USBaylor College of Medicine · USUniversity of California, Los Angeles · USNeurological Surgery · US

Funding

Early Feasibility Clinical Trial of a Visual Cortical ProsthesisUH3NS103442 · NINDS · SECOND SIGHT MEDICAL PRODUCTS, INC. · PI GREENBERG, ROBERT JAY, PATEL, UDAY KIRIT · 2018 to 2023
$6.8M
Visual Form Perception Produced by Electrically Stimulating Human Visual CortexR01EY023336 · NEI · UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA · PI DANIEL YOSHOR · 2013 to 2026
$5.3M
NEI NIH HHS R01 EY023336NINDS NIH HHS UH3 NS103442
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundVisual cortical prostheses (VCPs) have the potential to restore visual function to patients with acquired blindness. Successful implementation of VCPs requires the ability to reliably map the location of the phosphene produced by stimulation of each implanted electrode.

objectiveTo evaluate the efficacy of different approaches to phosphene mapping and propose simple improvements to mapping strategy.

methodsWe stimulated electrodes implanted in the visual cortex of five blind and fifteen sighted patients. We tested two fixation strategies, unimanual fixation, where subjects placed a single index finger on a tactile fixation point and bimanual fixation, where subjects overlaid their right index finger over their left on the tactile point. In addition, we compared absolute mapping in which a single electrode was stimulated on each trial, and relative mapping with sequences containing stimulation of three to five phosphenes on each trial. Trial-to-trial variability present in relative mapping sequences was quantified.

resultsPhosphene mapping was less precise in blind subjects than in sighted subjects (2DRMS, 16 ± 2.9° vs. 1.9 ± 0.93°; t (18) = 18, p = <0.001). Within blind subjects, bimanual fixation resulted in more consistent phosphene localization than unimanual fixation (BS1: 4.0 ± 2.6° vs. 19 ± 4.7°, t (79) = 24, p < 0.001; BS2 4.1 ± 2.0° vs. 12 ± 2.7°, t (65) = 19, p < 0.001). Multi-point relative mapping had similar baseline precision to absolute mapping (BS1: 4.7 ± 2.6° vs. 3.9 ± 2.0°; BS2: 4.1 ± 2.0° vs. 3.2 ± 1.1°) but improved significantly when trial-to-trial translational variability was removed. Although multi-point mapping methods did reveal more of the functional organization expected in early visual cortex, subjects tended to artificially regularize the spacing between phosphenes. We attempt to address this issue by fitting a standard logarithmic map to relative multi-point sequences.

conclusionsRelative mapping methods, combined with bimanual fixation, resulted in the most precise estimates of phosphene organization. These techniques, combined with use of a standard logarithmic model of visual cortex, may provide a practical way to improve the implementation of a VCP.

Indexed as

PhosphenesVisual CortexBlindnessElectric StimulationElectrodes, ImplantedHumansCortexElectrical stimulationMappingPhospheneVisual cortical prosthesis

Identifiers

PMID34482000
PMCPMC8488973
OpenAlexW3198370574

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.