Visual prosthesis: Further comments on the paper by Schiller and Tehovnik

摘要

The Letter to the Editor by Schmidt et al prompted me to read the Schiller and Tehovnik paper (Schiller and Tehovnik 2008) in greater detail than I had done previ-ously, and, similar to Schmidt et al, I feel compelled to respond. I applaud Drs Schiller and Tehovnik for putting together a lucid argument in favor of a cortical visual pros-thesis over other approaches; for use of animal testing as a prerequisite for development of a clinically useful prosthesis; for use of the conformal cortical map proposed by Schwartz as a tool to predict how visual stimuli may appear when projected onto area Vl; and for creation of a simulation tool for use in sighted observers. Yet the painful lack of references to a wealth of publications that have appeared over nearly two decades and, more seriously, the questionable attributions to some of the publications they do cite cannot go unchallenged.