Figure 3.

A screen image taken during the reading phase of the task. Here, the simulation of thalamic artificial vision with 2000 simulated phosphenes (far fewer are engaged in this image, due to the limited extent of the display, and to the particular bright/dark pattern forming the text) is shown with the subject looking at text displayed at the largest font size. The image depicts the text “My father takes me/to school every day/in his big green car” with the point of regard alighted on the h in school. The details of image generation for phosphene vision are found in Figure 4. As the point of regard moved around the screen, the pattern of phosphenes shifted accordingly, revealing more detail wherever the subject was looking. Because of the ability of the human visual system to integrate information across eye movements, the text appeared far more legible as a whole than this static image would imply. Every subject was able to read at the depicted condition (largest text with densest phosphene pattern) with relative ease and 100% accuracy.