Perceptual Learning of Object Recognition in Simulated Retinal Implant Perception - The Effect of Video Training

Retinal implants (RIs) provide new vision for patients suffering from photoreceptor degeneration in the retina. The limited vision gained by RI, however, leaves room for improvement by training regimes.

Two groups of normal-sighted participants were respectively trained with videos or still images of daily objects in a labeling task. Object appearance was simulated to resemble RI perception. In Experiment 1, the training effect was measured as the change in performance during the training, and the same labeling task was conducted after 1 week to test the retention. In Experiment 2 with a different pool of participants, a reverse labeling task was included before (pre-test) and after the training (post-test) to show if the training effect could be generalized into a different task context.

Both groups showed improved object recognition through training that was maintained for a week, and the video group showed better improvement (Experiment 1). Both groups showed improved object recognition in a different task that was maintained for a week, but the video group did not show better retention than the image group (Experiment 2).

Training with video materials leads to more improvement than training with still images in simulated RI perception, but this better improvement was specific to the trained task.

We recommend videos as better training materials than still images for patients with RIs to improve object recognition when the task-goal is highly specific. We also propose here that achieving highly specific training goals runs the risk of limiting the generalization of the training effects.