Editing Brain–computer interface (section)

==== Vision ====
Invasive BCI research has targeted repairing damaged sight and providing new functionality for people with paralysis. Invasive BCIs are implanted directly into the [[grey matter]] of the brain during neurosurgery. Because they lie in the grey matter, invasive devices produce the highest quality signals of BCI devices but are prone to [[scar|scar-tissue]] build-up, causing the signal to weaken, or disappear, as the body reacts to the foreign object.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Polikov VS, Tresco PA, Reichert WM | title = Response of brain tissue to chronically implanted neural electrodes | journal = Journal of Neuroscience Methods | volume = 148 | issue = 1 | pages = 1–18 | date = October 2005 | pmid = 16198003 | doi = 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2005.08.015 | s2cid = 11248506 }}</ref>

In [[vision science]], direct [[brain implant]]s have been used to treat non-[[congenital]] (acquired) blindness. One of the first scientists to produce a working brain interface to restore sight was private researcher [[William Dobelle]]. Dobelle's first prototype was implanted into "Jerry", a man blinded in adulthood, in 1978. A single-array BCI containing 68 electrodes was implanted onto Jerry's [[visual cortex]] and succeeded in producing [[phosphenes]], the sensation of seeing light. The system included cameras mounted on glasses to send signals to the implant. Initially, the implant allowed Jerry to see shades of grey in a limited field of vision at a low frame-rate. This also required him to be hooked up to a [[mainframe computer]], but shrinking electronics and faster computers made his artificial eye more portable and now enable him to perform simple tasks unassisted.<ref>[https://www.wired.com/wired/archive/10.09/vision.html "Vision quest"]. ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]''. (September 2002).</ref>

In 2002, Jens Naumann, also blinded in adulthood, became the first in a series of 16 paying patients to receive Dobelle's second generation implant, one of the earliest commercial uses of BCIs. The second generation device used a more sophisticated implant enabling better mapping of phosphenes into coherent vision. Phosphenes are spread out across the visual field in what researchers call "the starry-night effect". Immediately after his implant, Jens was able to use his imperfectly restored vision to [[driving|drive]] an automobile slowly around the parking area of the research institute.<ref>{{Cite news| vauthors = Kotler S |title=Vision Quest|language=en-US|magazine=Wired|url=https://www.wired.com/2002/09/vision/|access-date=2021-11-10|issn=1059-1028}}</ref> Dobelle died in 2004 before his processes and developments were documented, leaving no one to continue his work.<ref>{{cite web |date=1 November 2004 |title=Dr. William Dobelle, Artificial Vision Pioneer, Dies at 62 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/01/obituaries/01dobelle.html |work=The New York Times |vauthors=Tuller D}}</ref> Subsequently, Naumann and the other patients in the program began having problems with their vision, and eventually lost their "sight" again.<ref name="Naumann,_2012">{{cite book | vauthors = Naumann J |title=Search for Paradise: A Patient's Account of the Artificial Vision Experiment. |date=2012 |publisher=Xlibris |isbn=978-1-4797-0920-5}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=nurun.com |url=http://www.thewhig.com/2012/11/28/mans-high-tech-paradise-lost |title=Mr. Jen Naumann's high-tech paradise lost |work=thewhig |publisher=Thewhig.com |date= 28 November 2012|access-date=19 December 2016}}</ref>