Perceiving Invisible Light through a Somatosensory Cortical Prosthesis

Sensory neuroprostheses show great potential for alleviating major sensory deficits. It is not known, however, whether such devices can augment the subject’s normal perceptual range. Here we show that adult rats can learn to perceive otherwise invisible infrared (IR) light through a neuroprosthesis that couples the output of a head-mounted IR sensor to their somatosensory cortex (S1) via intracortical microstimulation (ICMS). Rats readily learn to use this new information source, and generate active exploratory strategies to discriminate among IR sources in their environment. S1 neurons in these IR-perceiving rats respond to both whisker deflection and ICMS, suggesting that the IR representation does not displace the original tactile representation. Hence, sensory cortical prostheses, in addition to restoring normal neurological functions, may serve to expand natural perceptual capabilities in mammals.