My previous research has mostly focused on the brain finds things visually. For example, how we can find an apple mixed in with other fruit (plus an example of how neurons in the parietal lobe might respond when faced with such a task, from a mini review in J Neuro):
Nowadays I have moved beyond vision to take a look at our other senses, such as how we hear and feel the world, and in particular, how all of this visual, auditory, and tactile information comes together. There are two ways we are doing this. First, we are using a program designed to aid the blind by transforming images into sound called The vOICe. The hope is that, with sufficient training, this device could allow the blind to "see" again, but by using their ears to receive visual-spatial information about the world. Here is what this basically looks like from a NY Times Magazine article on Peter Meijer's device:
(This picture tries to show how a small spy camera takes a picture of the area in front of the user, then transforms the picture into a soundscape. With practice one can learn to interpret these soundscapes in terms of what objects are in the field of view, and where they are, and in a sense "see" again. That is the end-goal at least!)
Secondly we are also studying synaesthesia (also spelled synesthesia), which is a special "cross-wiring" in the brain that certain people have that allows them to perceive something through a different modality than normal. For example, some persons see colors when they hear music. Others always see black-on-white text like this in different colors that are not there such as you see here. Both of these routes will allow us to better understand how the brain puts all of this information from different sources together into one coherent experience.
Technorati Tags: Journal of Neuroscience, New York Times Magazine, science, sensory substitution, synaesthesia, synesthesia, The vOICe, visual search
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