Mimicking natural neural encoding through retinal electrostimulation

Retinal neuroprostheses or ‘bionic eyes’, aim to restore patterned vision to those with vision loss by electrically stimulating the remaining neurons in the degenerate retina. Despite considerable progress over the last two decades, such devices generally stimulate indiscriminately both the ‘ON’ and ‘OFF’ visual pathways in the retina, conveying highly non-physiological signals to the brain.