Summary
In Europe 30M people are visually impaired (VI), 2.5M of which are entirely blind. Despite many efforts on the societal level, VIs are still ‘left in the dark’, when it comes to independent navigation. Neuroscience has the long-term potential to provide brain-prostheses, which circumvent damaged parts of the visual system. In the present project, we will investigate how spatial information can assist VIs during navigation by non-invasive and invasive information delivery.
We will make use of multisensory integration and optogenetic stimulation to investigate these questions in an animal model of navigation in the dark. Mice use their sensory hairs (‘whiskers’) analogous to how VIs use their cane for exploring their local surroundings. During this tactile navigation VIs also utilize the sound generated by their cane to provide both spatial and material information about their surroundings, evidence for a multisensory strategy.
Specifically we will first investigate the effect of multisensory information on the neural representation of tactile information during natural exploratory behaviour. For this purpose we will provide sounds rapidly (
We will make use of multisensory integration and optogenetic stimulation to investigate these questions in an animal model of navigation in the dark. Mice use their sensory hairs (‘whiskers’) analogous to how VIs use their cane for exploring their local surroundings. During this tactile navigation VIs also utilize the sound generated by their cane to provide both spatial and material information about their surroundings, evidence for a multisensory strategy.
Specifically we will first investigate the effect of multisensory information on the neural representation of tactile information during natural exploratory behaviour. For this purpose we will provide sounds rapidly (
Unfold all
/
Fold all
More information & hyperlinks
| Web resources: | https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/660328 |
| Start date: | 01-05-2015 |
| End date: | 30-04-2017 |
| Total budget - Public funding: | 177 598,80 Euro - 177 598,00 Euro |
Cordis data
Original description
In Europe 30M people are visually impaired (VI), 2.5M of which are entirely blind. Despite many efforts on the societal level, VIs are still ‘left in the dark’, when it comes to independent navigation. Neuroscience has the long-term potential to provide brain-prostheses, which circumvent damaged parts of the visual system. In the present project, we will investigate how spatial information can assist VIs during navigation by non-invasive and invasive information delivery.We will make use of multisensory integration and optogenetic stimulation to investigate these questions in an animal model of navigation in the dark. Mice use their sensory hairs (‘whiskers’) analogous to how VIs use their cane for exploring their local surroundings. During this tactile navigation VIs also utilize the sound generated by their cane to provide both spatial and material information about their surroundings, evidence for a multisensory strategy.
Specifically we will first investigate the effect of multisensory information on the neural representation of tactile information during natural exploratory behaviour. For this purpose we will provide sounds rapidly (
Status
CLOSEDCall topic
MSCA-IF-2014-EFUpdate Date
28-04-2024
Images
No images available.
Geographical location(s)
Structured mapping
Unfold all
/
Fold all
