Scientist equip rats with supernatural sensory system
Yuji Ikegaya and Hiroaki Norimoto from the University of Tokyo have performed an experiment in order to provide a series of rats with geomagnetic prosthetics, reports DelhiDailyNews.
The researchers sealed the eyes of the rats as it allows the spatial information to reach the brains of the rats directly.
The newly published paper is called "Visual Cortical Prosthesis with a Geomagnetic Compass Restores Spatial Navigation in Blind Rats".
The researchers wanted to stimulate the visual cortex in the brains of the rats in order to restore the heterocentric sense of blind adults. The researchers then designed a small head-mounted sensor consisting of a digital compass linked to a microstimulator by 2 electrodes.
This device was then connected to the visual cortex of the animals and the gadget succeeded in detecting movement and sending a geomagnetic signal. The rodents were then given instruction regarding which way they were facing.
The main part of the whole experiment is the natural allocentric sense of the body, which controls the spatial movement of an individual inside their environment.
Individuals with visual impairments encounter difficulties when moving not only because they cannot notice the obstacles in front of them, but also because they have a deficiency in what scientist call "absolute direction perception".
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