{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,16]],"date-time":"2026-10-16T06:22:13Z","timestamp":1792131733973,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":61,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,10]],"date-time":"2021-02-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1612915200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000001","name":"National Science Foundation","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["1753701"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["1753701"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000001","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n                    <jats:title>Introduction<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Retinal implants have now been approved and commercially available for certain clinical populations for over 5 years, with hundreds of individuals implanted, scores of them closely followed in research trials. Despite these numbers, however, few data are available that would help us answer basic questions regarding the nature and outcomes of artificial vision: what do recipients see when the device is turned on for the first time, and how does that change over time?<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Semi-structured interviews and observations were undertaken at two sites in France and the UK with 16 recipients who had received either the Argus II or IRIS II devices. Data were collected at various time points in the process that implant recipients went through in receiving and learning to use the device, including initial evaluation, implantation, initial activation and systems fitting, re-education and finally post-education. These data were supplemented with data from interviews conducted with vision rehabilitation specialists at the clinical sites and clinical researchers at the device manufacturers (Second Sight and Pixium Vision). Observational and interview data were transcribed, coded and analyzed using an approach guided by Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA).<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Implant recipients described the perceptual experience produced by their epiretinal implants as fundamentally, qualitatively different than natural vision. All used terms that invoked electrical stimuli to describe the appearance of their percepts, yet the characteristics used to describe the percepts varied significantly between recipients. Artificial vision for these recipients was a highly specific, learned skill-set that combined particular bodily techniques, associative learning and deductive reasoning in order to build a \u201clexicon of flashes\u201d\u2014a distinct perceptual vocabulary that they then used to decompose, recompose and interpret their surroundings. The percept did not transform over time; rather, the recipient became better at interpreting the signals they received, using cognitive techniques. The process of using the device never ceased to be cognitively fatiguing, and did not come without risk or cost to the recipient. In exchange, recipients received hope and purpose through participation, as well as a new kind of sensory signal that may not have afforded practical or functional use in daily life but, for some, provided a kind of \u201ccontemplative perception\u201d that recipients tailored to individualized activities.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Attending to the qualitative reports of implant recipients regarding the experience of artificial vision provides valuable information not captured by extant clinical outcome measures.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0229189","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,10]],"date-time":"2021-02-10T16:39:41Z","timestamp":1612975181000},"page":"e0229189","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":77,"title":["What do blind people \u201csee\u201d with retinal prostheses? Observations and qualitative reports of epiretinal implant users"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Cordelia","family":"Erickson-Davis","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1908-9362","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Helma","family":"Korzybska","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,2,10]]},"reference":[{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0229189.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"479","DOI":"10.1113\/jphysiol.1968.sp008519","article-title":"The sensations produced by electrical stimulation of the visual cortex","volume":"196","author":"GS Brindley","year":"1968","journal-title":"The Journal of physiology"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0229189.ref002","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"521","DOI":"10.1227\/00006123-197910000-00022","article-title":"Artificial vision for the blind by electrical stimulation of the visual cortex","volume":"5","author":"WH Dobelle","year":"1979","journal-title":"Neurosurgery"},{"issue":"7","key":"pone.0229189.ref003","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1167\/tvst.3.7.3","article-title":"Chapter 1\u2014Restoring Vision to the Blind: The New Age of Implanted Visual Prostheses","volume":"3","author":"Rathburn","year":"2014","journal-title":"Translational Vision Science & Technology"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0229189.ref004","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"539","DOI":"10.1136\/bjo.2010.179622","article-title":"Blind subjects implanted with the Argus II retinal prosthesis are able to improve performance in a spatial-motor task","volume":"95","author":"Argus II Study Group","year":"2011","journal-title":"British Journal of Ophthalmology"},{"key":"pone.0229189.ref005","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"779","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ophtha.2011.09.028","article-title":"Interim results from the international trial of Second Sight\u2019s visual prosthesis","volume":"119","author":"Argus II Study Group","year":"2012","journal-title":"Ophthalmology"},{"issue":"6","key":"pone.0229189.ref006","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1282","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ajo.2014.02.039","article-title":"The Argus II Retinal Prosthesis: 12-month outcomes from a single-study center","volume":"157","author":"S Rizzo","year":"2014","journal-title":"American journal of ophthalmology"},{"issue":"10","key":"pone.0229189.ref007","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2248","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ophtha.2016.06.049","article-title":"Five-year safety and performance results from the Argus II retinal prosthesis system clinical trial","volume":"123","author":"L da Cruz","year":"2016","journal-title":"Ophthalmology"},{"issue":"1757","key":"pone.0229189.ref008","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"20130077","DOI":"10.1098\/rspb.2013.0077","article-title":"Artificial vision with wirelessly powered subretinal electronic implant alpha-IMS","volume":"280","author":"K Stingl","year":"2013","journal-title":"Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences"},{"key":"pone.0229189.ref009","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"445","DOI":"10.3389\/fnins.2017.00445","article-title":"Interim Results of a Multicenter Trial with the New Electronic Subretinal Implant Alpha AMS in 15 Patients Blind from Inherited Retinal Degenerations","volume":"11","author":"K Stingl","year":"2017","journal-title":"Frontiers in Neuroscience"},{"issue":"4","key":"pone.0229189.ref010","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"637","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ophtha.2018.11.010","article-title":"Six-month safety and efficacy of the intelligent retinal implant system II device in retinitis pigmentosa","volume":"126","author":"MM Muqit","year":"2019","journal-title":"Ophthalmology"},{"key":"pone.0229189.ref011","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"99","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-41876-6_8","volume-title":"Artificial Vision","author":"R Hornig","year":"2017"},{"issue":"2","key":"pone.0229189.ref012","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"169","DOI":"10.1038\/gt.2011.155","article-title":"Optogenetic therapy for retinitis pigmentosa","volume":"19","author":"V Busskamp","year":"2012","journal-title":"Gene therapy"},{"key":"pone.0229189.ref013","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"125","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-41876-6_10","volume-title":"Artificial Vision","author":"LN Ayton","year":"2017"},{"key":"pone.0229189.ref014","unstructured":"Chichilnisky EJ, Greschner M, Jepson L, inventors; Pixium Vision SA, assignee. 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