1
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Bola Ł, Vetter P, Wenger M, Amedi A. Decoding Reach Direction in Early "Visual" Cortex of Congenitally Blind Individuals. J Neurosci 2023; 43:7868-7878. [PMID: 37783506 PMCID: PMC10648511 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0376-23.2023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2023] [Revised: 08/22/2023] [Accepted: 08/26/2023] [Indexed: 10/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Motor actions, such as reaching or grasping, can be decoded from fMRI activity of early visual cortex (EVC) in sighted humans. This effect can depend on vision or visual imagery, or alternatively, could be driven by mechanisms independent of visual experience. Here, we show that the actions of reaching in different directions can be reliably decoded from fMRI activity of EVC in congenitally blind humans (both sexes). Thus, neither visual experience nor visual imagery is necessary for EVC to represent action-related information. We also demonstrate that, within EVC of blind humans, the accuracy of reach direction decoding is highest in areas typically representing foveal vision and gradually decreases in areas typically representing peripheral vision. We propose that this might indicate the existence of a predictive, hard-wired mechanism of aligning action and visual spaces. This mechanism might send action-related information primarily to the high-resolution foveal visual areas, which are critical for guiding and online correction of motor actions. Finally, we show that, beyond EVC, the decoding of reach direction in blind humans is most accurate in dorsal stream areas known to be critical for visuo-spatial and visuo-motor integration in the sighted. Thus, these areas can develop space and action representations even in the lifelong absence of vision. Overall, our findings in congenitally blind humans match previous research on the action system in the sighted, and suggest that the development of action representations in the human brain might be largely independent of visual experience.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Early visual cortex (EVC) was traditionally thought to process only visual signals from the retina. Recent studies proved this account incomplete, and showed EVC involvement in many activities not directly related to incoming visual information, such as memory, sound, or action processing. Is EVC involved in these activities because of visual imagery? Here, we show robust reach direction representation in EVC of humans born blind. This demonstrates that EVC can represent actions independently of vision and visual imagery. Beyond EVC, we found that reach direction representation in blind humans is strongest in dorsal brain areas, critical for action processing in the sighted. This suggests that the development of action representations in the human brain is largely independent of visual experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Łukasz Bola
- Institute of Psychology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, 00-378, Poland
| | - Petra Vetter
- Visual & Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, 1700, Switzerland
| | - Mohr Wenger
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel, 91120
| | - Amir Amedi
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel, 91120
- Baruch Ivcher Institute for Brain, Cognition & Technology, Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Herzliya, Israel, 461010
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2
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Amaral L, Thomas P, Amedi A, Striem-Amit E. Longitudinal stability of individual brain plasticity patterns in blindness. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2023:2023.11.01.565196. [PMID: 37986779 PMCID: PMC10659359 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.01.565196] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/22/2023]
Abstract
The primary visual cortex (V1) in individuals born blind is engaged in a wide spectrum of tasks and sensory modalities, including audition, touch, language, and memory. This widespread involvement raises questions regarding the constancy of its role and whether it might exhibit flexibility in its function over time, connecting to diverse network functions in response to task-specific demands. This would suggest that reorganized V1 takes on a role similar to cognitive multiple-demand system regions. Alternatively, it is possible that the varying patterns of plasticity observed in the blind V1 can be attributed to individual factors, whereby different blind individuals recruit V1 for different functions, highlighting the immense idiosyncrasy of plasticity. In support of this second account, we have recently shown that V1 functional connectivity varies greatly across blind individuals. But do these represent stable individual patterns of plasticity or merely instantaneous changes, for a multiple-demand system now inhabiting V1? Here we tested if individual connectivity patterns from the visual cortex of blind individuals are stable over time. We show that over two years, fMRI functional connectivity from the primary visual cortex is unique and highly stable in a small sample of repeatedly sampled congenitally blind individuals. Further, using multivoxel pattern analysis, we demonstrate that the unique reorganization patterns of these individuals allow decoding of participant identity. Together with recent evidence for substantial individual differences in visual cortex connectivity, this indicates there may be a consistent role for the visual cortex in blindness, which may differ for each individual. Further, it suggests that the variability in visual reorganization in blindness across individuals could be used to seek stable neuromarkers for sight rehabilitation and assistive approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lénia Amaral
- Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20057, USA
| | - Peyton Thomas
- Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20057, USA
| | - Amir Amedi
- Ivcher School of Psychology, The Institute for Brain, Mind and Technology, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel
- The Ruth & Meir Rosenthal Brain Imaging Center, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel
| | - Ella Striem-Amit
- Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC 20057, USA
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3
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Arbel R, Heimler B, Amedi A. Rapid plasticity in the ventral visual stream elicited by a newly learnt auditory script in congenitally blind adults. Neuropsychologia 2023; 190:108685. [PMID: 37741551 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2023.108685] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/15/2022] [Revised: 08/07/2023] [Accepted: 09/20/2023] [Indexed: 09/25/2023]
Abstract
Accumulating evidence in the last decades has given rise to a new theory of brain organization, positing that cortical regions are recruited for specific tasks irrespective of the sensory modality via which information is channeled. For instance, the visual reading network has been shown to be recruited for reading via the tactile Braille code in congenitally blind adults. Yet, how rapidly non-typical sensory input modulates activity in typically visual regions is yet to be explored. To this aim, we developed a novel reading orthography, termed OVAL, enabling congenitally blind adults to quickly acquire reading via the auditory modality. OVAL uses the EyeMusic, a visual-to-auditory sensory-substitution-device (SSD) to transform visually presented letters optimized for auditory transformation into sound. Using fMRI, we show modulation in the right ventral visual stream following 2-h of same-day training. Crucially, following more extensive training (i.e., ∼12 h) we show that OVAL reading recruits the left ventral visual stream including the location of the Visual Word Form Area, a key graphene-responsive region within the visual reading network. Our results show that while after 2 h of SSD training we can already observe the recruitment of the deprived ventral visual stream by auditory stimuli, computation-selective cross-modal recruitment requires longer training to establish.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roni Arbel
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hadassah Ein-Kerem, Jerusalem, Israel; Department of Pediatrics, Hadassah Mount Scopus Hospital, Jerusalem, Israel.
| | - Benedetta Heimler
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hadassah Ein-Kerem, Jerusalem, Israel; The Institute for Brain, Mind and Technology, Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University, Herzeliya, Israel; Center of Advanced Technologies in Rehabilitation (CATR), The Chaim Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, Israel
| | - Amir Amedi
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hadassah Ein-Kerem, Jerusalem, Israel; The Institute for Brain, Mind and Technology, Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University, Herzeliya, Israel
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4
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Ilic K, Bertani R, Lapteva N, Drakatos P, Delogu A, Raheel K, Soteriou M, Mutti C, Steier J, Carmichael DW, Goadsby PJ, Ockelford A, Rosenzweig I. Visuo-spatial imagery in dreams of congenitally and early blind: a systematic review. Front Integr Neurosci 2023; 17:1204129. [PMID: 37457556 PMCID: PMC10347682 DOI: 10.3389/fnint.2023.1204129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2023] [Accepted: 06/19/2023] [Indexed: 07/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Background The presence of visual imagery in dreams of congenitally blind people has long been a matter of substantial controversy. We set to systematically review body of published work on the presence and nature of oneiric visuo-spatial impressions in congenitally and early blind subjects across different areas of research, from experimental psychology, functional neuroimaging, sensory substitution, and sleep research. Methods Relevant studies were identified using the following databases: EMBASE, MEDLINE and PsychINFO. Results Studies using diverse imaging techniques and sensory substitution devices broadly suggest that the "blind" occipital cortex may be able to integrate non-visual sensory inputs, and thus possibly also generate visuo-spatial impressions. Visual impressions have also been reported by blind subjects who had near-death or out-of-body experiences. Conclusion Deciphering the mechanistic nature of these visual impression could open new possibility in utilization of neuroplasticity and its potential role for treatment of neurodisability.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katarina Ilic
- Department of Neuroimaging, Sleep and Brain Plasticity Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
- BRAIN, Imaging Centre, CNS, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Rita Bertani
- Department of Neuroimaging, Sleep and Brain Plasticity Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Neda Lapteva
- Department of Neuroimaging, Sleep and Brain Plasticity Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Panagis Drakatos
- Department of Neuroimaging, Sleep and Brain Plasticity Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
- School of Basic and Medical Biosciences, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
- Sleep Disorders Centre, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
| | - Alessio Delogu
- Department of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Kausar Raheel
- Department of Neuroimaging, Sleep and Brain Plasticity Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Matthew Soteriou
- Department of Philosophy, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Carlotta Mutti
- Department of General and Specialized Medicine, Sleep Disorders Center, University Hospital of Parma, Parma, Italy
| | - Joerg Steier
- School of Basic and Medical Biosciences, Faculty of Life Sciences and Medicine, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
- Sleep Disorders Centre, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
| | - David W. Carmichael
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Peter J. Goadsby
- NIHR-Wellcome Trust King’s Clinical Research Facility, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Adam Ockelford
- Centre for Learning, Teaching and Human Development, School of Education, University of Roehampton, London, United Kingdom
| | - Ivana Rosenzweig
- Department of Neuroimaging, Sleep and Brain Plasticity Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King’s College London, London, United Kingdom
- Sleep Disorders Centre, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
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Yizhar O, Tal Z, Amedi A. Loss of action-related function and connectivity in the blind extrastriate body area. Front Neurosci 2023; 17:973525. [PMID: 36968509 PMCID: PMC10035577 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2023.973525] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2022] [Accepted: 02/23/2023] [Indexed: 03/11/2023] Open
Abstract
The Extrastriate Body Area (EBA) participates in the visual perception and motor actions of body parts. We recently showed that EBA’s perceptual function develops independently of visual experience, responding to stimuli with body-part information in a supramodal fashion. However, it is still unclear if the EBA similarly maintains its action-related function. Here, we used fMRI to study motor-evoked responses and connectivity patterns in the congenitally blind brain. We found that, unlike the case of perception, EBA does not develop an action-related response without visual experience. In addition, we show that congenital blindness alters EBA’s connectivity profile in a counterintuitive way—functional connectivity with sensorimotor cortices dramatically decreases, whereas connectivity with perception-related visual occipital cortices remains high. To the best of our knowledge, we show for the first time that action-related functions and connectivity in the visual cortex could be contingent on visuomotor experience. We further discuss the role of the EBA within the context of visuomotor control and predictive coding theory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Or Yizhar
- Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
- Ivcher School of Psychology, The Institute for Brain, Mind and Technology, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel
- Research Group Adaptive Memory and Decision Making, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
- *Correspondence: Or Yizhar,
| | - Zohar Tal
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal
| | - Amir Amedi
- Ivcher School of Psychology, The Institute for Brain, Mind and Technology, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel
- The Ruth & Meir Rosenthal Brain Imaging Center, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel
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6
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Aggius-Vella E, Chebat DR, Maidenbaum S, Amedi A. Activation of human visual area V6 during egocentric navigation with and without visual experience. Curr Biol 2023; 33:1211-1219.e5. [PMID: 36863342 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.02.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2022] [Revised: 11/23/2022] [Accepted: 02/07/2023] [Indexed: 03/04/2023]
Abstract
V6 is a retinotopic area located in the dorsal visual stream that integrates eye movements with retinal and visuo-motor signals. Despite the known role of V6 in visual motion, it is unknown whether it is involved in navigation and how sensory experiences shape its functional properties. We explored the involvement of V6 in egocentric navigation in sighted and in congenitally blind (CB) participants navigating via an in-house distance-to-sound sensory substitution device (SSD), the EyeCane. We performed two fMRI experiments on two independent datasets. In the first experiment, CB and sighted participants navigated the same mazes. The sighted performed the mazes via vision, while the CB performed them via audition. The CB performed the mazes before and after a training session, using the EyeCane SSD. In the second experiment, a group of sighted participants performed a motor topography task. Our results show that right V6 (rhV6) is selectively involved in egocentric navigation independently of the sensory modality used. Indeed, after training, rhV6 of CB is selectively recruited for auditory navigation, similarly to rhV6 in the sighted. Moreover, we found activation for body movement in area V6, which can putatively contribute to its involvement in egocentric navigation. Taken together, our findings suggest that area rhV6 is a unique hub that transforms spatially relevant sensory information into an egocentric representation for navigation. While vision is clearly the dominant modality, rhV6 is in fact a supramodal area that can develop its selectivity for navigation in the absence of visual experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Aggius-Vella
- The Baruch Ivcher Institute for Brain, Cognition & Technology, Reichman University, 4610101 Herzliya, Israel.
| | - Daniel-Robert Chebat
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ariel University, 4076414 Ariel, Israel; Navigation and Accessibility Research Center of Ariel University (NARCA), Ariel University, 4076414 Ariel, Israel.
| | - Shachar Maidenbaum
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 8410501 Beersheba, Israel; Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, 8410501 Beersheba, Israel.
| | - Amir Amedi
- The Baruch Ivcher Institute for Brain, Cognition & Technology, Reichman University, 4610101 Herzliya, Israel.
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7
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Maimon A, Netzer O, Heimler B, Amedi A. Testing geometry and 3D perception in children following vision restoring cataract-removal surgery. Front Neurosci 2023; 16:962817. [PMID: 36711132 PMCID: PMC9879291 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.962817] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2022] [Accepted: 12/19/2022] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
As neuroscience and rehabilitative techniques advance, age-old questions concerning the visual experience of those who gain sight after blindness, once thought to be philosophical alone, take center stage and become the target for scientific inquiries. In this study, we employ a battery of visual perception tasks to study the unique experience of a small group of children who have undergone vision-restoring cataract removal surgery as part of the Himalayan Cataract Project. We tested their abilities to perceive in three dimensions (3D) using a binocular rivalry task and the Brock string task, perceive visual illusions, use cross-modal mappings between touch and vision, and spatially group based on geometric cues. Some of the children in this study gained a sense of sight for the first time in their lives, having been born with bilateral congenital cataracts, while others suffered late-onset blindness in one eye alone. This study simultaneously supports yet raises further questions concerning Hubel and Wiesel's critical periods theory and provides additional insight into Molyneux's problem, the ability to correlate vision with touch quickly. We suggest that our findings present a relatively unexplored intermediate stage of 3D vision development. Importantly, we spotlight some essential geometrical perception visual abilities that strengthen the idea that spontaneous geometry intuitions arise independently from visual experience (and education), thus replicating and extending previous studies. We incorporate a new model, not previously explored, of testing children with congenital cataract removal surgeries who perform the task via vision. In contrast, previous work has explored these abilities in the congenitally blind via touch. Taken together, our findings provide insight into the development of what is commonly known as the visual system in the visually deprived and highlight the need to further empirically explore an amodal, task-based interpretation of specializations in the development and structure of the brain. Moreover, we propose a novel objective method, based on a simple binocular rivalry task and the Brock string task, for determining congenital (early) vs. late blindness where medical history and records are partial or lacking (e.g., as is often the case in cataract removal cases).
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Affiliation(s)
- Amber Maimon
- The Baruch Ivcher Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Technology, Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel,The Ruth & Meir Rosenthal Brain Imaging Center, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel,*Correspondence: Amber Maimon,
| | - Ophir Netzer
- Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Benedetta Heimler
- Center of Advanced Technologies in Rehabilitation (CATR), Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Amir Amedi
- The Baruch Ivcher Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Technology, Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel,The Ruth & Meir Rosenthal Brain Imaging Center, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel
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8
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Arend I, Yuen K, Yizhar O, Chebat DR, Amedi A. Gyrification in relation to cortical thickness in the congenitally blind. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:970878. [DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.970878] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2022] [Accepted: 10/14/2022] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Greater cortical gyrification (GY) is linked with enhanced cognitive abilities and is also negatively related to cortical thickness (CT). Individuals who are congenitally blind (CB) exhibits remarkable functional brain plasticity which enables them to perform certain non-visual and cognitive tasks with supranormal abilities. For instance, extensive training using touch and audition enables CB people to develop impressive skills and there is evidence linking these skills to cross-modal activations of primary visual areas. There is a cascade of anatomical, morphometric and functional-connectivity changes in non-visual structures, volumetric reductions in several components of the visual system, and CT is also increased in CB. No study to date has explored GY changes in this population, and no study has explored how variations in CT are related to GY changes in CB. T1-weighted 3D structural magnetic resonance imaging scans were acquired to examine the effects of congenital visual deprivation in cortical structures in a healthy sample of 11 CB individuals (6 male) and 16 age-matched sighted controls (SC) (10 male). In this report, we show for the first time an increase in GY in several brain areas of CB individuals compared to SC, and a negative relationship between GY and CT in the CB brain in several different cortical areas. We discuss the implications of our findings and the contributions of developmental factors and synaptogenesis to the relationship between CT and GY in CB individuals compared to SC. F.
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9
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Martolini C, Amadeo MB, Campus C, Cappagli G, Gori M. Effects of audio-motor training on spatial representations in long-term late blindness. Neuropsychologia 2022; 176:108391. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2021] [Revised: 08/16/2022] [Accepted: 10/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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Bleau M, Paré S, Chebat DR, Kupers R, Nemargut JP, Ptito M. Neural substrates of spatial processing and navigation in blindness: An activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis. Front Neurosci 2022; 16:1010354. [PMID: 36340755 PMCID: PMC9630591 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2022.1010354] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2022] [Accepted: 09/30/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Even though vision is considered the best suited sensory modality to acquire spatial information, blind individuals can form spatial representations to navigate and orient themselves efficiently in space. Consequently, many studies support the amodality hypothesis of spatial representations since sensory modalities other than vision contribute to the formation of spatial representations, independently of visual experience and imagery. However, given the high variability in abilities and deficits observed in blind populations, a clear consensus about the neural representations of space has yet to be established. To this end, we performed a meta-analysis of the literature on the neural correlates of spatial processing and navigation via sensory modalities other than vision, like touch and audition, in individuals with early and late onset blindness. An activation likelihood estimation (ALE) analysis of the neuroimaging literature revealed that early blind individuals and sighted controls activate the same neural networks in the processing of non-visual spatial information and navigation, including the posterior parietal cortex, frontal eye fields, insula, and the hippocampal complex. Furthermore, blind individuals also recruit primary and associative occipital areas involved in visuo-spatial processing via cross-modal plasticity mechanisms. The scarcity of studies involving late blind individuals did not allow us to establish a clear consensus about the neural substrates of spatial representations in this specific population. In conclusion, the results of our analysis on neuroimaging studies involving early blind individuals support the amodality hypothesis of spatial representations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxime Bleau
- École d’Optométrie, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Samuel Paré
- École d’Optométrie, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Daniel-Robert Chebat
- Visual and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory (VCN Lab), Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
- Navigation and Accessibility Research Center of Ariel University (NARCA), Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
| | - Ron Kupers
- École d’Optométrie, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Institute of Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | | | - Maurice Ptito
- École d’Optométrie, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC, Canada
- Department of Neuroscience, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
- *Correspondence: Maurice Ptito,
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11
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Maimon A, Yizhar O, Buchs G, Heimler B, Amedi A. A case study in phenomenology of visual experience with retinal prosthesis versus visual-to-auditory sensory substitution. Neuropsychologia 2022; 173:108305. [PMID: 35752268 PMCID: PMC9297294 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108305] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2021] [Revised: 04/30/2022] [Accepted: 06/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
The phenomenology of the blind has provided an age-old, unparalleled means of exploring the enigmatic link between the brain and mind. This paper delves into the unique phenomenological experience of a man who became blind in adulthood. He subsequently underwent both an Argus II retinal prosthesis implant and training, and extensive training on the EyeMusic visual to auditory sensory substitution device (SSD), thereby becoming the first reported case to date of dual proficiency with both devices. He offers a firsthand account into what he considers the great potential of combining sensory substitution devices with visual prostheses as part of a complete visual restoration protocol. While the Argus II retinal prosthesis alone provided him with immediate visual percepts by way of electrically stimulated phosphenes elicited by the device, the EyeMusic SSD requires extensive training from the onset. Yet following the extensive training program with the EyeMusic sensory substitution device, our subject reports that the sensory substitution device allowed him to experience a richer, more complex perceptual experience, that felt more "second nature" to him, while the Argus II prosthesis (which also requires training) did not allow him to achieve the same levels of automaticity and transparency. Following long-term use of the EyeMusic SSD, our subject reported that visual percepts representing mainly, but not limited to, colors portrayed by the EyeMusic SSD are elicited in association with auditory stimuli, indicating the acquisition of a high level of automaticity. Finally, the case study indicates an additive benefit to the combination of both devices on the user's subjective phenomenological visual experience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amber Maimon
- The Baruch Ivcher Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Technology, The Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel; The Ruth & Meir Rosenthal Brain Imaging Center, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel.
| | - Or Yizhar
- The Baruch Ivcher Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Technology, The Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel; Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel; Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Research Group Adaptive Memory and Decision Making, Berlin, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Max Planck Dahlem Campus of Cognition (MPDCC), Berlin, Germany
| | - Galit Buchs
- The Baruch Ivcher Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Technology, The Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel; Department of Cognitive and Brain Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Benedetta Heimler
- Center of Advanced Technologies in Rehabilitation (CATR), Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Amir Amedi
- The Baruch Ivcher Institute for Brain, Cognition, and Technology, The Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel; The Ruth & Meir Rosenthal Brain Imaging Center, Reichman University, Herzliya, Israel.
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12
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Bednaya E, Pavani F, Ricciardi E, Pietrini P, Bottari D. Oscillatory signatures of Repetition Suppression and Novelty Detection reveal altered induced visual responses in early deafness. Cortex 2021; 142:138-153. [PMID: 34265736 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2021.05.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2020] [Revised: 04/01/2021] [Accepted: 05/17/2021] [Indexed: 12/26/2022]
Abstract
The ability to differentiate between repeated and novel events represents a fundamental property of the visual system. Neural responses are typically reduced upon stimulus repetition, a phenomenon called Repetition Suppression (RS). On the contrary, following a novel visual stimulus, the neural response is generally enhanced, a phenomenon referred to as Novelty Detection (ND). Here, we aimed to investigate the impact of early deafness on the oscillatory signatures of RS and ND brain responses. To this aim, electrophysiological data were acquired in early deaf and hearing control individuals during processing of repeated and novel visual events unattended by participants. By studying evoked and induced oscillatory brain activities, as well as inter-trial phase coherence, we linked response modulations to feedback and/or feedforward processes. Results revealed selective experience-dependent changes on both RS and ND mechanisms. Compared to hearing controls, early deaf individuals displayed: (i) greater attenuation of the response following stimulus repetition, selectively in the induced theta-band (4-7 Hz); (ii) reduced desynchronization following the onset of novel visual stimuli, in the induced alpha and beta bands (8-12 and 13-25 Hz); (iii) comparable modulation of evoked responses and inter-trial phase coherence. The selectivity of the effects in the induced responses parallels findings observed in the auditory cortex of deaf animal models following intracochlear electric stimulation. The present results support the idea that early deafness alters induced oscillatory activity and the functional tuning of basic visual processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Evgenia Bednaya
- Molecular Mind Laboratory, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Italy
| | - Francesco Pavani
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences - CIMeC, University of Trento, Italy; Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science, University of Trento, Italy
| | | | - Pietro Pietrini
- Molecular Mind Laboratory, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Italy
| | - Davide Bottari
- Molecular Mind Laboratory, IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, Italy.
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13
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Netzer O, Heimler B, Shur A, Behor T, Amedi A. Backward spatial perception can be augmented through a novel visual-to-auditory sensory substitution algorithm. Sci Rep 2021; 11:11944. [PMID: 34099756 PMCID: PMC8184900 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-88595-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2020] [Accepted: 02/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Can humans extend and augment their natural perceptions during adulthood? Here, we address this fascinating question by investigating the extent to which it is possible to successfully augment visual spatial perception to include the backward spatial field (a region where humans are naturally blind) via other sensory modalities (i.e., audition). We thus developed a sensory-substitution algorithm, the “Topo-Speech” which conveys identity of objects through language, and their exact locations via vocal-sound manipulations, namely two key features of visual spatial perception. Using two different groups of blindfolded sighted participants, we tested the efficacy of this algorithm to successfully convey location of objects in the forward or backward spatial fields following ~ 10 min of training. Results showed that blindfolded sighted adults successfully used the Topo-Speech to locate objects on a 3 × 3 grid either positioned in front of them (forward condition), or behind their back (backward condition). Crucially, performances in the two conditions were entirely comparable. This suggests that novel spatial sensory information conveyed via our existing sensory systems can be successfully encoded to extend/augment human perceptions. The implications of these results are discussed in relation to spatial perception, sensory augmentation and sensory rehabilitation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ophir Netzer
- The Cognitive Science Program, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Benedetta Heimler
- The Baruch Ivcher Institute for Brain, Cognition & Technology, The Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Herzeliya, Israel.,Department of Medical Neurobiology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hadassah Ein-Kerem, Jerusalem, Israel.,Center of Advanced Technologies in Rehabilitation (CATR), Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Amir Shur
- The Cognitive Science Program, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Tomer Behor
- The Cognitive Science Program, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Amir Amedi
- The Baruch Ivcher Institute for Brain, Cognition & Technology, The Baruch Ivcher School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, Herzeliya, Israel. .,Department of Medical Neurobiology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hadassah Ein-Kerem, Jerusalem, Israel.
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14
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Hofstetter S, Zuiderbaan W, Heimler B, Dumoulin SO, Amedi A. Topographic maps and neural tuning for sensory substitution dimensions learned in adulthood in a congenital blind subject. Neuroimage 2021; 235:118029. [PMID: 33836269 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2020] [Revised: 01/18/2021] [Accepted: 03/30/2021] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Topographic maps, a key principle of brain organization, emerge during development. It remains unclear, however, whether topographic maps can represent a new sensory experience learned in adulthood. MaMe, a congenitally blind individual, has been extensively trained in adulthood for perception of a 2D auditory-space (soundscape) where the y- and x-axes are represented by pitch and time, respectively. Using population receptive field mapping we found neural populations tuned topographically to pitch, not only in the auditory cortices but also in the parietal and occipito-temporal cortices. Topographic neural tuning to time was revealed in the parietal and occipito-temporal cortices. Some of these maps were found to represent both axes concurrently, enabling MaMe to represent unique locations in the soundscape space. This case study provides proof of concept for the existence of topographic maps tuned to the newly learned soundscape dimensions. These results suggest that topographic maps can be adapted or recycled in adulthood to represent novel sensory experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shir Hofstetter
- Spinoza Centre for Neuroimaging, Meibergdreef 75, Amsterdam, BK 1105 Netherlands.
| | - Wietske Zuiderbaan
- Spinoza Centre for Neuroimaging, Meibergdreef 75, Amsterdam, BK 1105 Netherlands
| | - Benedetta Heimler
- The Baruch Ivcher Institute for Brain, Mind & Technology, School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, P.O. Box 167, Herzliya 46150, Israel; Center of Advanced Technologies in Rehabilitation (CATR), Sheba Medical Center, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Serge O Dumoulin
- Spinoza Centre for Neuroimaging, Meibergdreef 75, Amsterdam, BK 1105 Netherlands; Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, BT 1181, Netherlands; Department of Experimental Psychology, Helmholtz Institute, Utrecht University, Utrecht, CS 3584, Netherlands.
| | - Amir Amedi
- The Baruch Ivcher Institute for Brain, Mind & Technology, School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) Herzliya, P.O. Box 167, Herzliya 46150, Israel.
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15
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Zilbershtain-Kra Y, Graffi S, Ahissar E, Arieli A. Active sensory substitution allows fast learning via effective motor-sensory strategies. iScience 2021; 24:101918. [PMID: 33392481 PMCID: PMC7773576 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2020.101918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2020] [Revised: 10/25/2020] [Accepted: 12/07/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
We examined the development of new sensing abilities in adults by training participants to perceive remote objects through their fingers. Using an Active-Sensing based sensory Substitution device (ASenSub), participants quickly learned to perceive fast via the new modality and preserved their high performance for more than 20 months. Both sighted and blind participants exhibited almost complete transfer of performance from 2D images to novel 3D physical objects. Perceptual accuracy and speed using the ASenSub were, on average, 300% and 600% better than previous reports for 2D images and 3D objects. This improvement is attributed to the ability of the participants to employ their own motor-sensory strategies. Sighted participants dominant strategy was based on motor-sensory convergence on the most informative regions of objects, similarly to fixation patterns in vision. Congenitally, blind participants did not show such a tendency, and many of their exploratory procedures resembled those observed with natural touch.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yael Zilbershtain-Kra
- The Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, 234 Herzl Street, Rehovot 76100, Israel
| | - Shmuel Graffi
- The Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, 234 Herzl Street, Rehovot 76100, Israel
| | - Ehud Ahissar
- The Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, 234 Herzl Street, Rehovot 76100, Israel
| | - Amos Arieli
- The Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, 234 Herzl Street, Rehovot 76100, Israel
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16
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Rosenke M, van Hoof R, van den Hurk J, Grill-Spector K, Goebel R. A Probabilistic Functional Atlas of Human Occipito-Temporal Visual Cortex. Cereb Cortex 2021; 31:603-619. [PMID: 32968767 PMCID: PMC7727347 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa246] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2020] [Revised: 07/01/2020] [Accepted: 07/30/2020] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Human visual cortex contains many retinotopic and category-specific regions. These brain regions have been the focus of a large body of functional magnetic resonance imaging research, significantly expanding our understanding of visual processing. As studying these regions requires accurate localization of their cortical location, researchers perform functional localizer scans to identify these regions in each individual. However, it is not always possible to conduct these localizer scans. Here, we developed and validated a functional region of interest (ROI) atlas of early visual and category-selective regions in human ventral and lateral occipito-temporal cortex. Results show that for the majority of functionally defined ROIs, cortex-based alignment results in lower between-subject variability compared to nonlinear volumetric alignment. Furthermore, we demonstrate that 1) the atlas accurately predicts the location of an independent dataset of ventral temporal cortex ROIs and other atlases of place selectivity, motion selectivity, and retinotopy. Next, 2) we show that the majority of voxel within our atlas is responding mostly to the labeled category in a left-out subject cross-validation, demonstrating the utility of this atlas. The functional atlas is publicly available (download.brainvoyager.com/data/visfAtlas.zip) and can help identify the location of these regions in healthy subjects as well as populations (e.g., blind people, infants) in which functional localizers cannot be run.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mona Rosenke
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
| | - Rick van Hoof
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, 6229 EV, The Netherlands
| | - Job van den Hurk
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, 6229 EV, The Netherlands
- Scannexus MRI Center, Maastricht, 6229 EV, The Netherlands
| | - Kalanit Grill-Spector
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA
- Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute, Stanford University, Stanford, 94305 CA, USA
| | - Rainer Goebel
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, 6229 EV, The Netherlands
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17
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Kanjlia S, Pant R, Bedny M. Sensitive Period for Cognitive Repurposing of Human Visual Cortex. Cereb Cortex 2020; 29:3993-4005. [PMID: 30418533 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhy280] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/09/2018] [Revised: 09/03/2018] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Studies of sensory loss are a model for understanding the functional flexibility of human cortex. In congenital blindness, subsets of visual cortex are recruited during higher-cognitive tasks, such as language and math tasks. Is such dramatic functional repurposing possible throughout the lifespan or restricted to sensitive periods in development? We compared visual cortex function in individuals who lost their vision as adults (after age 17) to congenitally blind and sighted blindfolded adults. Participants took part in resting-state and task-based fMRI scans during which they solved math equations of varying difficulty and judged the meanings of sentences. Blindness at any age caused "visual" cortices to synchronize with specific frontoparietal networks at rest. However, in task-based data, visual cortices showed regional specialization for math and language and load-dependent activity only in congenital blindness. Thus, despite the presence of long-range functional connectivity, cognitive repurposing of human cortex is limited by sensitive periods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shipra Kanjlia
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
| | - Rashi Pant
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
| | - Marina Bedny
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
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18
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Tonelli A, Campus C, Gori M. Early visual cortex response for sound in expert blind echolocators, but not in early blind non-echolocators. Neuropsychologia 2020; 147:107617. [PMID: 32896527 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107617] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2020] [Revised: 08/25/2020] [Accepted: 08/31/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Echolocation is a perceptual and navigational skill that can be acquired by some individuals. Regarding blind people, this skill can help them "see" the environment around them via a new form of auditory information based on echoes. Expert human echolocators benefit from using this technique not only in controlled environments but also in their everyday lives. In the current study, we investigate the effect of echolocation on blind people's auditory spatial abilities at the cortical level. In an auditory spatial bisection task, we tested people who are early blinds and early blind expert echolocators, along with sighted people. Our results showed that there is similar early activation (50-90 ms) in the posterior area of the scalp for both early blind expert echolocators and sighted participants, but not in the early blind group. This activation was related to sound stimulation, and it is contralateral to the position of the sound in space. These findings indicate that echolocation is a good substitute for the visual modality that enables the development of auditory spatial representations when vision is not available.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessia Tonelli
- UVIP, Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy; Department of Translational Research of New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
| | - Claudio Campus
- UVIP, Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy
| | - Monica Gori
- UVIP, Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy
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19
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Heimler B, Amedi A. Are critical periods reversible in the adult brain? Insights on cortical specializations based on sensory deprivation studies. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 116:494-507. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.06.034] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/07/2019] [Revised: 06/07/2020] [Accepted: 06/25/2020] [Indexed: 02/06/2023]
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20
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Chebat DR, Schneider FC, Ptito M. Spatial Competence and Brain Plasticity in Congenital Blindness via Sensory Substitution Devices. Front Neurosci 2020; 14:815. [PMID: 32848575 PMCID: PMC7406645 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2020.00815] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/12/2020] [Accepted: 07/10/2020] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
In congenital blindness (CB), tactile, and auditory information can be reinterpreted by the brain to compensate for visual information through mechanisms of brain plasticity triggered by training. Visual deprivation does not cause a cognitive spatial deficit since blind people are able to acquire spatial knowledge about the environment. However, this spatial competence takes longer to achieve but is eventually reached through training-induced plasticity. Congenitally blind individuals can further improve their spatial skills with the extensive use of sensory substitution devices (SSDs), either visual-to-tactile or visual-to-auditory. Using a combination of functional and anatomical neuroimaging techniques, our recent work has demonstrated the impact of spatial training with both visual to tactile and visual to auditory SSDs on brain plasticity, cortical processing, and the achievement of certain forms of spatial competence. The comparison of performances between CB and sighted people using several different sensory substitution devices in perceptual and sensory-motor tasks uncovered the striking ability of the brain to rewire itself during perceptual learning and to interpret novel sensory information even during adulthood. We discuss here the implications of these findings for helping blind people in navigation tasks and to increase their accessibility to both real and virtual environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel-Robert Chebat
- Visual and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory (VCN Lab), Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
- Navigation and Accessibility Research Center of Ariel University (NARCA), Ariel, Israel
| | - Fabien C. Schneider
- Department of Radiology, University of Lyon, Saint-Etienne, France
- Neuroradiology Unit, University Hospital of Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France
| | - Maurice Ptito
- BRAIN Lab, Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
- Chaire de Recherche Harland Sanders en Sciences de la Vision, École d’Optométrie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, Canada
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21
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Maimon-Mor RO, Makin TR. Is an artificial limb embodied as a hand? Brain decoding in prosthetic limb users. PLoS Biol 2020; 18:e3000729. [PMID: 32511238 PMCID: PMC7302856 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3000729] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2019] [Revised: 06/18/2020] [Accepted: 05/20/2020] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
The potential ability of the human brain to represent an artificial limb as a body part (embodiment) has been inspiring engineers, clinicians, and scientists as a means to optimise human-machine interfaces. Using functional MRI (fMRI), we studied whether neural embodiment actually occurs in prosthesis users' occipitotemporal cortex (OTC). Compared with controls, different prostheses types were visually represented more similarly to each other, relative to hands and tools, indicating the emergence of a dissociated prosthesis categorisation. Greater daily life prosthesis usage correlated positively with greater prosthesis categorisation. Moreover, when comparing prosthesis users' representation of their own prosthesis to controls' representation of a similar looking prosthesis, prosthesis users represented their own prosthesis more dissimilarly to hands, challenging current views of visual prosthesis embodiment. Our results reveal a use-dependent neural correlate for wearable technology adoption, demonstrating adaptive use-related plasticity within the OTC. Because these neural correlates were independent of the prostheses' appearance and control, our findings offer new opportunities for prosthesis design by lifting restrictions imposed by the embodiment theory for artificial limbs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roni O. Maimon-Mor
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- WIN Centre, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Tamar R. Makin
- Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, United Kingdom
- WIN Centre, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
- Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, University College London, London, United Kingdom
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22
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Martolini C, Cappagli G, Campus C, Gori M. Shape Recognition With Sounds: Improvement in Sighted Individuals After Audio-Motor Training. Multisens Res 2020; 33:417-431. [PMID: 31751938 DOI: 10.1163/22134808-20191460] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2019] [Accepted: 09/23/2019] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
Recent studies have demonstrated that audition used to complement or substitute visual feedback is effective in conveying spatial information, e.g., sighted individuals can understand the curvature of a shape when solely auditory input is provided. Recently we also demonstrated that, in the absence of vision, auditory feedback of body movements can enhance spatial perception in visually impaired adults and children. In the present study, we assessed whether sighted adults can also improve their spatial abilities related to shape recognition with an audio-motor training based on the idea that the coupling of auditory and motor information can further refine the representation of space when vision is missing. Auditory shape recognition was assessed in 22 blindfolded sighted adults with an auditory task requiring participants to identify four shapes by means of the sound conveyed through a set of consecutive loudspeakers embedded on a fixed two-dimensional vertical array. We divided participants into two groups of 11 adults each, performing a training session in two different modalities: active audio-motor training (experimental group) and passive auditory training (control group). The audio-motor training consisted in the reproduction of specific movements with the arm by relying on the sound produced by an auditory source positioned on the wrist of participants. Results showed that sighted individuals improved the recognition of auditory shapes only after active training, suggesting that audio-motor feedback can be an effective tool to enhance spatial representation when visual information is lacking.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Martolini
- 1Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genoa, Italy.,2DIBRIS, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy
| | - Giulia Cappagli
- 1Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genoa, Italy.,3IRCCS Fondazione Istituto Neurologico Nazionale C. Mondino, Pavia, Italy
| | - Claudio Campus
- 1Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genoa, Italy
| | - Monica Gori
- 1Unit for Visually Impaired People, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genoa, Italy
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23
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Zhou W, Pang W, Zhang L, Xu H, Li P, Shu H. Altered connectivity of the visual word form area in the low-vision population: A resting-state fMRI study. Neuropsychologia 2020; 137:107302. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107302] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2018] [Revised: 08/22/2019] [Accepted: 12/06/2019] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
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24
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Bennett CR, Bauer CM, Bailin ES, Merabet LB. Neuroplasticity in cerebral visual impairment (CVI): Assessing functional vision and the neurophysiological correlates of dorsal stream dysfunction. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 108:171-181. [PMID: 31655075 PMCID: PMC6949360 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.10.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2019] [Revised: 10/15/2019] [Accepted: 10/18/2019] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Cerebral visual impairment (CVI) results from perinatal injury to visual processing structures and pathways and is the most common individual cause of pediatric visual impairment and blindness in developed countries. While there is mounting evidence demonstrating extensive neuroplastic reorganization in early onset, profound ocular blindness, how the brain reorganizes in the setting of congenital damage to cerebral (i.e. retro-geniculate) visual pathways remains comparatively poorly understood. Individuals with CVI exhibit a wide range of visual deficits and, in particular, present with impairments of higher order visual spatial processing (referred to as "dorsal stream dysfunction") as well as object recognition (associated with processing along the ventral stream). In this review, we discuss the need for ongoing work to develop novel, neuroscience-inspired approaches to investigate functional visual deficits in this population. We also outline the role played by advanced structural and functional neuroimaging in helping to elucidate the underlying neurophysiology of CVI, and highlight key differences with regard to patterns of neural reorganization previously described in ocular blindness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher R Bennett
- Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, 20 Staniford Street, Boston, MA 02114, United States
| | - Corinna M Bauer
- Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, 20 Staniford Street, Boston, MA 02114, United States
| | - Emma S Bailin
- Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, 20 Staniford Street, Boston, MA 02114, United States
| | - Lotfi B Merabet
- Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, 20 Staniford Street, Boston, MA 02114, United States.
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25
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Ricciardi E, Bottari D, Ptito M, Röder B, Pietrini P. The sensory-deprived brain as a unique tool to understand brain development and function. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 108:78-82. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2019.10.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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26
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Auvray M. Multisensory and spatial processes in sensory substitution. Restor Neurol Neurosci 2019; 37:609-619. [DOI: 10.3233/rnn-190950] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Malika Auvray
- Institut des Systèmes Intelligents et de Robotique, CNRS UMR 7222, Sorbonne Université, Paris, France
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27
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Zhang C, Lee TMC, Fu Y, Ren C, Chan CCH, Tao Q. Properties of cross-modal occipital responses in early blindness: An ALE meta-analysis. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2019; 24:102041. [PMID: 31677587 PMCID: PMC6838549 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2019.102041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2019] [Revised: 09/20/2019] [Accepted: 10/17/2019] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
ALE meta-analysis reveals distributed brain networks for object and spatial functions in individuals with early blindness. ALE contrast analysis reveals specific activations in the left cuneus and lingual gyrus for language function, suggesting a reverse hierarchical organization of the visual cortex for early blind individuals. The findings contribute to visual rehabilitation in blind individuals by revealing the function-dependent and sensory-independent networks during nonvisual processing.
Cross-modal occipital responses appear to be essential for nonvisual processing in individuals with early blindness. However, it is not clear whether the recruitment of occipital regions depends on functional domain or sensory modality. The current study utilized a coordinate-based meta-analysis to identify the distinct brain regions involved in the functional domains of object, spatial/motion, and language processing and the common brain regions involved in both auditory and tactile modalities in individuals with early blindness. Following the PRISMA guidelines, a total of 55 studies were included in the meta-analysis. The specific analyses revealed the brain regions that are consistently recruited for each function, such as the dorsal fronto-parietal network for spatial function and ventral occipito-temporal network for object function. This is consistent with the literature, suggesting that the two visual streams are preserved in early blind individuals. The contrast analyses found specific activations in the left cuneus and lingual gyrus for language function. This finding is novel and suggests a reverse hierarchical organization of the visual cortex for early blind individuals. The conjunction analyses found common activations in the right middle temporal gyrus, right precuneus and a left parieto-occipital region. Clinically, this work contributes to visual rehabilitation in early blind individuals by revealing the function-dependent and sensory-independent networks during nonvisual processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Caiyun Zhang
- Psychology Department, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China
| | - Tatia M C Lee
- Laboratory of Neuropsychology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, CHINA; Laboratory of Cognitive Affective Neuroscience, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, CHINA; The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China
| | - Yunwei Fu
- Guangdong-Hongkong-Macau Institute of CNS Regeneration, Ministry of Education CNS Regeneration Collaborative Joint Laboratory, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China
| | - Chaoran Ren
- Guangdong-Hongkong-Macau Institute of CNS Regeneration, Ministry of Education CNS Regeneration Collaborative Joint Laboratory, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China; Guangdong key Laboratory of Brain Function and Diseases, Jinan University, Guangzhou, 510632, China; Co-innovation Center of Neuroregeneration, Nantong University, Nantong, 226001, China; Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Guangzhou, China
| | - Chetwyn C H Chan
- Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, CHINA.
| | - Qian Tao
- Psychology Department, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou 510632, China; Center for Brain Science and Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Guangzhou, China.
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28
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Magrou L, Barone P, Markov NT, Killackey HP, Giroud P, Berland M, Knoblauch K, Dehay C, Kennedy H. How Areal Specification Shapes the Local and Interareal Circuits in a Macaque Model of Congenital Blindness. Cereb Cortex 2019; 28:3017-3034. [PMID: 29850900 PMCID: PMC6041985 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhy125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2018] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
There is little understanding of the structural underpinnings of the functional reorganization of the cortex in the congenitally blind human. Taking advantage of the extensive characterization of the macaque visual system, we examine in macaque the influence of congenital blindness resulting from the removal of the retina during in utero development. This effectively removes the normal influence of the thalamus on cortical development leading to an induced hybrid cortex (HC) combining features of primary visual and extrastriate cortex. Retrograde tracers injected in HC reveal a local, intrinsic connectivity characteristic of higher order areas and show that the HC receives a uniquely strong, purely feedforward projection from striate cortex but no ectopic inputs, except from subiculum, and entorhinal cortex. Statistical modeling of quantitative connectivity data shows that HC is relatively high in the cortical hierarchy and receives a reinforced input from ventral stream areas while the overall organization of the functional streams are conserved. The directed and weighted anophthalmic cortical graph from the present study can be used to construct dynamic and structural models. These findings show how the sensory periphery governs cortical phenotype and reveal the importance of developmental arealization for understanding the functional reorganization in congenital blindness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Loïc Magrou
- Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Inserm, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, Bron, France
| | - Pascal Barone
- Université De Toulouse Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.,Centre De Recherche Cerveau & Cognition, CNRS, UMR 5549, Toulouse, France
| | - Nikola T Markov
- Princeton Neuroscience Institute and Department of Psychology, Princeton University, Princeton, USA
| | - Herbert P Killackey
- Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Pascale Giroud
- Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Inserm, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, Bron, France
| | - Michel Berland
- Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Inserm, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, Bron, France
| | - Kenneth Knoblauch
- Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Inserm, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, Bron, France
| | - Colette Dehay
- Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Inserm, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, Bron, France
| | - Henry Kennedy
- Univ Lyon, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1, Inserm, Stem Cell and Brain Research Institute U1208, Bron, France.,Institute of Neuroscience, State Key Laboratory of Neuroscience, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) Key Laboratory of Primate Neurobiology, CAS, Shanghai, China
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29
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Buchs G, Heimler B, Amedi A. The Effect of Irrelevant Environmental Noise on the Performance of Visual-to-Auditory Sensory Substitution Devices Used by Blind Adults. Multisens Res 2019; 32:87-109. [DOI: 10.1163/22134808-20181327] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2018] [Accepted: 11/30/2018] [Indexed: 02/04/2023]
Abstract
Abstract
Visual-to-auditory Sensory Substitution Devices (SSDs) are a family of non-invasive devices for visual rehabilitation aiming at conveying whole-scene visual information through the intact auditory modality. Although proven effective in lab environments, the use of SSDs has yet to be systematically tested in real-life situations. To start filling this gap, in the present work we tested the ability of expert SSD users to filter out irrelevant background noise while focusing on the relevant audio information. Specifically, nine blind expert users of the EyeMusic visual-to-auditory SSD performed a series of identification tasks via SSDs (i.e., shape, color, and conjunction of the two features). Their performance was compared in two separate conditions: silent baseline, and with irrelevant background sounds from real-life situations, using the same stimuli in a pseudo-random balanced design. Although the participants described the background noise as disturbing, no significant performance differences emerged between the two conditions (i.e., noisy; silent) for any of the tasks. In the conjunction task (shape and color) we found a non-significant trend for a disturbing effect of the background noise on performance. These findings suggest that visual-to-auditory SSDs can indeed be successfully used in noisy environments and that users can still focus on relevant auditory information while inhibiting irrelevant sounds. Our findings take a step towards the actual use of SSDs in real-life situations while potentially impacting rehabilitation of sensory deprived individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Galit Buchs
- 1Department of Cognitive Science, Faculty of Humanities, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hadassah Ein-Kerem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Benedetta Heimler
- 2The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Research, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hadassah Ein-Kerem, Jerusalem, Israel
- 3Department of Medical Neurobiology, Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada, Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hadassah Ein-Kerem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Amir Amedi
- 1Department of Cognitive Science, Faculty of Humanities, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hadassah Ein-Kerem, Jerusalem, Israel
- 2The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Research, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hadassah Ein-Kerem, Jerusalem, Israel
- 3Department of Medical Neurobiology, Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada, Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Hadassah Ein-Kerem, Jerusalem, Israel
- 4Sorbonne Universités UPMC Univ Paris 06, Institut de la Vision Paris, France
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30
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Silva PR, Farias T, Cascio F, Dos Santos L, Peixoto V, Crespo E, Ayres C, Ayres M, Marinho V, Bastos VH, Ribeiro P, Velasques B, Orsini M, Fiorelli R, de Freitas MRG, Teixeira S. Neuroplasticity in visual impairments. Neurol Int 2018; 10:7326. [PMID: 30687464 PMCID: PMC6322049 DOI: 10.4081/ni.2018.7326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2017] [Accepted: 12/25/2017] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The visual acuity loss enables the brain to access new pathways in the quest to overcome the visual limitation and this is wellknown as neuroplasticity which have mechanisms to cortical reorganization. In this review, we related the evidences about the neuroplasticity as well as cortical anatomical differences and functional repercussions in visual impairments. We performed a systematic review of PUBMED database, without date or status publication restrictions. The findings demonstrate that the visual impairment produce a compensatory sensorial effect, in which non-visual areas are related to both cross (visual congenital) and multimodal (late blind) neuroplasticity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paulo Ramiler Silva
- Neuro-innovation Technology & Brain Mapping Laboratory, Federal University of Piauí, Parnaíba
| | - Tiago Farias
- Neuro-innovation Technology & Brain Mapping Laboratory, Federal University of Piauí, Parnaíba
| | - Fernando Cascio
- Neuro-innovation Technology & Brain Mapping Laboratory, Federal University of Piauí, Parnaíba
| | - Levi Dos Santos
- Neuro-innovation Technology & Brain Mapping Laboratory, Federal University of Piauí, Parnaíba
| | - Vinícius Peixoto
- Neuro-innovation Technology & Brain Mapping Laboratory, Federal University of Piauí, Parnaíba
| | - Eric Crespo
- Neuro-innovation Technology & Brain Mapping Laboratory, Federal University of Piauí, Parnaíba
| | - Carla Ayres
- Neuro-innovation Technology & Brain Mapping Laboratory, Federal University of Piauí, Parnaíba
| | - Marcos Ayres
- Neuro-innovation Technology & Brain Mapping Laboratory, Federal University of Piauí, Parnaíba.,The Northeast Biotechnology Network, Federal University of Piauí, Teresina
| | - Victor Marinho
- Neuro-innovation Technology & Brain Mapping Laboratory, Federal University of Piauí, Parnaíba.,The Northeast Biotechnology Network, Federal University of Piauí, Teresina
| | - Victor Hugo Bastos
- The Northeast Biotechnology Network, Federal University of Piauí, Teresina.,Brain Mapping and Functionality Laboratory, Federal University of Piauí, Parnaíba
| | - Pedro Ribeiro
- Brain Mapping and Sensory- Motor Integration Laboratory, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro
| | - Bruna Velasques
- Brain Mapping and Sensory- Motor Integration Laboratory, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro
| | - Marco Orsini
- Master's Program in Local Development Program, University Center Augusto Motta - UNISUAM, Rio de Janeiro.,Master's Program in Health Sciences Applied - Vassouras University, Rio de Janeiro.,CASF- Ramon Pereira de Freitas - Department of Neurology
| | - Rossano Fiorelli
- Master's Program in Health Sciences Applied - Vassouras University, Rio de Janeiro
| | - Marcos R G de Freitas
- Department of Neurology, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Silmar Teixeira
- Neuro-innovation Technology & Brain Mapping Laboratory, Federal University of Piauí, Parnaíba.,The Northeast Biotechnology Network, Federal University of Piauí, Teresina
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31
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Gudi-Mindermann H, Rimmele JM, Nolte G, Bruns P, Engel AK, Röder B. Working memory training in congenitally blind individuals results in an integration of occipital cortex in functional networks. Behav Brain Res 2018; 348:31-41. [DOI: 10.1016/j.bbr.2018.04.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2017] [Revised: 04/02/2018] [Accepted: 04/03/2018] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
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32
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de Borst AW, de Gelder B. Mental Imagery Follows Similar Cortical Reorganization as Perception: Intra-Modal and Cross-Modal Plasticity in Congenitally Blind. Cereb Cortex 2018; 29:2859-2875. [DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhy151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2018] [Revised: 05/27/2018] [Accepted: 06/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Cortical plasticity in congenitally blind individuals leads to cross-modal activation of the visual cortex and may lead to superior perceptual processing in the intact sensory domains. Although mental imagery is often defined as a quasi-perceptual experience, it is unknown whether it follows similar cortical reorganization as perception in blind individuals. In this study, we show that auditory versus tactile perception evokes similar intra-modal discriminative patterns in congenitally blind compared with sighted participants. These results indicate that cortical plasticity following visual deprivation does not influence broad intra-modal organization of auditory and tactile perception as measured by our task. Furthermore, not only the blind, but also the sighted participants showed cross-modal discriminative patterns for perception modality in the visual cortex. During mental imagery, both groups showed similar decoding accuracies for imagery modality in the intra-modal primary sensory cortices. However, no cross-modal discriminative information for imagery modality was found in early visual cortex of blind participants, in contrast to the sighted participants. We did find evidence of cross-modal activation of higher visual areas in blind participants, including the representation of specific-imagined auditory features in visual area V4.
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Affiliation(s)
- A W de Borst
- Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, UK
- Brain and Emotion Lab, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - B de Gelder
- Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, UK
- Brain and Emotion Lab, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
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33
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Abstract
Early blindness causes fundamental alterations of neural function across more than 25% of cortex-changes that span the gamut from metabolism to behavior and collectively represent one of the most dramatic examples of plasticity in the human brain. The goal of this review is to describe how the remarkable behavioral and neuroanatomical compensations demonstrated by blind individuals provide insights into the extent, mechanisms, and limits of human brain plasticity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ione Fine
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA;
| | - Ji-Min Park
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA;
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34
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Konkle T, Caramazza A. The Large-Scale Organization of Object-Responsive Cortex Is Reflected in Resting-State Network Architecture. Cereb Cortex 2018; 27:4933-4945. [PMID: 27664960 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhw287] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2016] [Accepted: 08/23/2016] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Neural responses to visually presented objects have a large-scale spatial organization across the cortex, related to the dimensions of animacy and object size. Most proposals about the origins of this organization point to the influence of differential connectivity with other cortical regions as the key organizing force that drives distinctions in object-responsive cortex. To explore this possibility, we used resting-state functional connectivity to examine the relationship between stimulus-evoked organization of objects, and distinctions in functional network architecture. Using a data-driven analysis, we found evidence for three distinct whole-brain resting-state networks that route through object-responsive cortex, and these naturally manifest the tripartite structure of the stimulus-evoked organization. However, object-responsive regions were also highly correlated with each other at rest. Together, these results point to a nested network architecture, with a local interconnected network across object-responsive cortex and distinctive subnetworks that specifically route these key object distinctions to distinct long-range regions. Broadly, these results point to the viability that long-range connections are a driving force of the large-scale organization of object-responsive cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Talia Konkle
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Alfonso Caramazza
- Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.,Center for Mind/Brain Science (CIMeC), University of Trento, 38122 Trento, Italy
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35
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Voss P. Brain (re)organization following visual loss. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2018; 10:e1468. [PMID: 29878533 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1468] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2017] [Revised: 05/04/2018] [Accepted: 05/07/2018] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
The study of the neural consequences of sensory loss provides a unique window into the brain's functional and organizational principles. Although the blind visual cortex has been implicated in the cross-modal processing of nonvisual inputs for quite some time, recent research has shown that certain cortical organizational principles are preserved even in the case of complete sensory loss. Furthermore, a growing body of work has shown that markers of neuroplasticity extend to neuroanatomical metrics that include cortical thickness and myelinization. Although our understanding of the mechanisms that underlie sensory deprivation-driven cross-modal plasticity is improving, several critical questions remain unanswered. The specific pathways that underlie the rerouting of nonvisual information, for instance, have not been fully elucidated. The fact that important cross-modal recruitment occurs following transient deprivation in sighted individuals suggests that significant rewiring following blindness may not be required. Furthermore, there are marked individual differences regarding the magnitude and functional relevance of the cross-modal reorganization. It is also not clear to what extent precise environmental factors may play a role in establishing the degree of reorganization across individuals, as opposed to factors that might specifically relate to the cause or the nature of the visual loss. In sum, although many unresolved questions remain, sensory deprivation continues to be an excellent model for studying the plastic nature of the brain. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Brain Function and Dysfunction Psychology > Perception and Psychophysics Neuroscience > Plasticity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Patrice Voss
- Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
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36
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Rosenke M, Weiner KS, Barnett MA, Zilles K, Amunts K, Goebel R, Grill-Spector K. A cross-validated cytoarchitectonic atlas of the human ventral visual stream. Neuroimage 2018; 170:257-270. [PMID: 28213120 PMCID: PMC5559348 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.02.040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 43] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/07/2016] [Revised: 12/30/2016] [Accepted: 02/14/2017] [Indexed: 01/13/2023] Open
Abstract
The human ventral visual stream consists of several areas that are considered processing stages essential for perception and recognition. A fundamental microanatomical feature differentiating areas is cytoarchitecture, which refers to the distribution, size, and density of cells across cortical layers. Because cytoarchitectonic structure is measured in 20-micron-thick histological slices of postmortem tissue, it is difficult to assess (a) how anatomically consistent these areas are across brains and (b) how they relate to brain parcellations obtained with prevalent neuroimaging methods, acquired at the millimeter and centimeter scale. Therefore, the goal of this study was to (a) generate a cross-validated cytoarchitectonic atlas of the human ventral visual stream on a whole brain template that is commonly used in neuroimaging studies and (b) to compare this atlas to a recently published retinotopic parcellation of visual cortex (Wang et al., 2014). To achieve this goal, we generated an atlas of eight cytoarchitectonic areas: four areas in the occipital lobe (hOc1-hOc4v) and four in the fusiform gyrus (FG1-FG4), then we tested how the different alignment techniques affect the accuracy of the resulting atlas. Results show that both cortex-based alignment (CBA) and nonlinear volumetric alignment (NVA) generate an atlas with better cross-validation performance than affine volumetric alignment (AVA). Additionally, CBA outperformed NVA in 6/8 of the cytoarchitectonic areas. Finally, the comparison of the cytoarchitectonic atlas to a retinotopic atlas shows a clear correspondence between cytoarchitectonic and retinotopic areas in the ventral visual stream. The successful performance of CBA suggests a coupling between cytoarchitectonic areas and macroanatomical landmarks in the human ventral visual stream, and furthermore, that this coupling can be utilized for generating an accurate group atlas. In addition, the coupling between cytoarchitecture and retinotopy highlights the potential use of this atlas in understanding how anatomical features contribute to brain function. We make this cytoarchitectonic atlas freely available in both BrainVoyager and FreeSurfer formats (http://vpnl.stanford.edu/vcAtlas). The availability of this atlas will enable future studies to link cytoarchitectonic organization to other parcellations of the human ventral visual stream with potential to advance the understanding of this pathway in typical and atypical populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mona Rosenke
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States.
| | - Kevin S Weiner
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
| | - Michael A Barnett
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States
| | - Karl Zilles
- Institute for Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), and JARA Brain, Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany; Department for Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital Aachen, RWTH Aachen University, and JARA-BRAIN, Aachen, Germany
| | - Katrin Amunts
- Institute for Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-1), and JARA Brain, Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany; C. and O. Vogt Institute for Brain Research, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany
| | - Rainer Goebel
- Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, The Netherlands; Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Kalanit Grill-Spector
- Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United States; Stanford Neuroscience Institute, Stanford, CA, United States
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37
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Graulty C, Papaioannou O, Bauer P, Pitts MA, Canseco-Gonzalez E. Hearing Shapes: Event-related Potentials Reveal the Time Course of Auditory-Visual Sensory Substitution. J Cogn Neurosci 2017; 30:498-513. [PMID: 29211649 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
In auditory-visual sensory substitution, visual information (e.g., shape) can be extracted through strictly auditory input (e.g., soundscapes). Previous studies have shown that image-to-sound conversions that follow simple rules [such as the Meijer algorithm; Meijer, P. B. L. An experimental system for auditory image representation. Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, 39, 111-121, 1992] are highly intuitive and rapidly learned by both blind and sighted individuals. A number of recent fMRI studies have begun to explore the neuroplastic changes that result from sensory substitution training. However, the time course of cross-sensory information transfer in sensory substitution is largely unexplored and may offer insights into the underlying neural mechanisms. In this study, we recorded ERPs to soundscapes before and after sighted participants were trained with the Meijer algorithm. We compared these posttraining versus pretraining ERP differences with those of a control group who received the same set of 80 auditory/visual stimuli but with arbitrary pairings during training. Our behavioral results confirmed the rapid acquisition of cross-sensory mappings, and the group trained with the Meijer algorithm was able to generalize their learning to novel soundscapes at impressive levels of accuracy. The ERP results revealed an early cross-sensory learning effect (150-210 msec) that was significantly enhanced in the algorithm-trained group compared with the control group as well as a later difference (420-480 msec) that was unique to the algorithm-trained group. These ERP modulations are consistent with previous fMRI results and provide additional insight into the time course of cross-sensory information transfer in sensory substitution.
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38
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Cross-Modal Plasticity in Higher-Order Auditory Cortex of Congenitally Deaf Cats Does Not Limit Auditory Responsiveness to Cochlear Implants. J Neurosci 2017; 36:6175-85. [PMID: 27277796 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0046-16.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 62] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2016] [Accepted: 04/19/2016] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
UNLABELLED Congenital sensory deprivation can lead to reorganization of the deprived cortical regions by another sensory system. Such cross-modal reorganization may either compete with or complement the "original" inputs to the deprived area after sensory restoration and can thus be either adverse or beneficial for sensory restoration. In congenital deafness, a previous inactivation study documented that supranormal visual behavior was mediated by higher-order auditory fields in congenitally deaf cats (CDCs). However, both the auditory responsiveness of "deaf" higher-order fields and interactions between the reorganized and the original sensory input remain unknown. Here, we studied a higher-order auditory field responsible for the supranormal visual function in CDCs, the auditory dorsal zone (DZ). Hearing cats and visual cortical areas served as a control. Using mapping with microelectrode arrays, we demonstrate spatially scattered visual (cross-modal) responsiveness in the DZ, but show that this did not interfere substantially with robust auditory responsiveness elicited through cochlear implants. Visually responsive and auditory-responsive neurons in the deaf auditory cortex formed two distinct populations that did not show bimodal interactions. Therefore, cross-modal plasticity in the deaf higher-order auditory cortex had limited effects on auditory inputs. The moderate number of scattered cross-modally responsive neurons could be the consequence of exuberant connections formed during development that were not pruned postnatally in deaf cats. Although juvenile brain circuits are modified extensively by experience, the main driving input to the cross-modally (visually) reorganized higher-order auditory cortex remained auditory in congenital deafness. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT In a common view, the "unused" auditory cortex of deaf individuals is reorganized to a compensatory sensory function during development. According to this view, cross-modal plasticity takes over the unused cortex and reassigns it to the remaining senses. Therefore, cross-modal plasticity might conflict with restoration of auditory function with cochlear implants. It is unclear whether the cross-modally reorganized auditory areas lose auditory responsiveness. We show that the presence of cross-modal plasticity in a higher-order auditory area does not reduce auditory responsiveness of that area. Visual reorganization was moderate, spatially scattered and there were no interactions between cross-modally reorganized visual and auditory inputs. These results indicate that cross-modal reorganization is less detrimental for neurosensory restoration than previously thought.
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39
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Visual deprivation selectively reshapes the intrinsic functional architecture of the anterior insula subregions. Sci Rep 2017; 7:45675. [PMID: 28358391 PMCID: PMC5372462 DOI: 10.1038/srep45675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2016] [Accepted: 02/28/2017] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The anterior insula (AI) is the core hub of salience network that serves to identify the most relevant stimuli among vast sensory inputs and forward them to higher cognitive regions to guide behaviour. As blind subjects were usually reported with changed perceptive abilities for salient non-visual stimuli, we hypothesized that the resting-state functional network of the AI is selectively reorganized after visual deprivation. The resting-state functional connectivity (FC) of the bilateral dorsal and ventral AI was calculated for twenty congenitally blind (CB), 27 early blind (EB), 44 late blind (LB) individuals and 50 sighted controls (SCs). The FCs of the dorsal AI were strengthened with the dorsal visual stream, while weakened with the ventral visual stream in the blind than the SCs; in contrast, the FCs of the ventral AI of the blind was strengthened with the ventral visual stream. Furthermore, these strengthened FCs of both the dorsal and ventral AI were partially negatively associated with the onset age of blindness. Our result indicates two parallel pathways that selectively transfer non-visual salient information between the deprived “visual” cortex and salience network in blind subjects.
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40
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Bauer CM, Hirsch GV, Zajac L, Koo BB, Collignon O, Merabet LB. Multimodal MR-imaging reveals large-scale structural and functional connectivity changes in profound early blindness. PLoS One 2017; 12:e0173064. [PMID: 28328939 PMCID: PMC5362049 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0173064] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/14/2016] [Accepted: 02/14/2017] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
In the setting of profound ocular blindness, numerous lines of evidence demonstrate the existence of dramatic anatomical and functional changes within the brain. However, previous studies based on a variety of distinct measures have often provided inconsistent findings. To help reconcile this issue, we used a multimodal magnetic resonance (MR)-based imaging approach to provide complementary structural and functional information regarding this neuroplastic reorganization. This included gray matter structural morphometry, high angular resolution diffusion imaging (HARDI) of white matter connectivity and integrity, and resting state functional connectivity MRI (rsfcMRI) analysis. When comparing the brains of early blind individuals to sighted controls, we found evidence of co-occurring decreases in cortical volume and cortical thickness within visual processing areas of the occipital and temporal cortices respectively. Increases in cortical volume in the early blind were evident within regions of parietal cortex. Investigating white matter connections using HARDI revealed patterns of increased and decreased connectivity when comparing both groups. In the blind, increased white matter connectivity (indexed by increased fiber number) was predominantly left-lateralized, including between frontal and temporal areas implicated with language processing. Decreases in structural connectivity were evident involving frontal and somatosensory regions as well as between occipital and cingulate cortices. Differences in white matter integrity (as indexed by quantitative anisotropy, or QA) were also in general agreement with observed pattern changes in the number of white matter fibers. Analysis of resting state sequences showed evidence of both increased and decreased functional connectivity in the blind compared to sighted controls. Specifically, increased connectivity was evident between temporal and inferior frontal areas. Decreases in functional connectivity were observed between occipital and frontal and somatosensory-motor areas and between temporal (mainly fusiform and parahippocampus) and parietal, frontal, and other temporal areas. Correlations in white matter connectivity and functional connectivity observed between early blind and sighted controls showed an overall high degree of association. However, comparing the relative changes in white matter and functional connectivity between early blind and sighted controls did not show a significant correlation. In summary, these findings provide complimentary evidence, as well as highlight potential contradictions, regarding the nature of regional and large scale neuroplastic reorganization resulting from early onset blindness.
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Affiliation(s)
- Corinna M. Bauer
- Laboratory for Visual Neuroplasticity. Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States of America
| | - Gabriella V. Hirsch
- Laboratory for Visual Neuroplasticity. Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States of America
| | - Lauren Zajac
- Center for Biomedical Imaging. Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States of America
| | - Bang-Bon Koo
- Center for Biomedical Imaging. Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, United States of America
| | - Olivier Collignon
- Crossmodal Perception and Plasticity Laboratory. University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Lotfi B. Merabet
- Laboratory for Visual Neuroplasticity. Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States of America
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41
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Tao Q, Chan CCH, Luo YJ, Li JJ, Ting KH, Lu ZL, Whitfield-Gabrieli S, Wang J, Lee TMC. Prior Visual Experience Modulates Learning of Sound Localization Among Blind Individuals. Brain Topogr 2017; 30:364-379. [PMID: 28161728 PMCID: PMC5408050 DOI: 10.1007/s10548-017-0549-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/04/2016] [Accepted: 01/19/2017] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Cross-modal learning requires the use of information from different sensory modalities. This study investigated how the prior visual experience of late blind individuals could modulate neural processes associated with learning of sound localization. Learning was realized by standardized training on sound localization processing, and experience was investigated by comparing brain activations elicited from a sound localization task in individuals with (late blind, LB) and without (early blind, EB) prior visual experience. After the training, EB showed decreased activation in the precuneus, which was functionally connected to a limbic-multisensory network. In contrast, LB showed the increased activation of the precuneus. A subgroup of LB participants who demonstrated higher visuospatial working memory capabilities (LB-HVM) exhibited an enhanced precuneus-lingual gyrus network. This differential connectivity suggests that visuospatial working memory due to the prior visual experience gained via LB-HVM enhanced learning of sound localization. Active visuospatial navigation processes could have occurred in LB-HVM compared to the retrieval of previously bound information from long-term memory for EB. The precuneus appears to play a crucial role in learning of sound localization, disregarding prior visual experience. Prior visual experience, however, could enhance cross-modal learning by extending binding to the integration of unprocessed information, mediated by the cognitive functions that these experiences develop.
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Affiliation(s)
- Qian Tao
- Psychology Department, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
- Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Chetwyn C H Chan
- Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
| | - Yue-Jia Luo
- National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Jian-Jun Li
- China Rehabilitation Research Center, Beijing, China
| | - Kin-Hung Ting
- Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong
| | - Zhong-Lin Lu
- Center for Cognitive and Behavioral Brain Imaging, Arts, & Sciences, Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Ohio, OH, 43210, USA
| | | | - Jun Wang
- National Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Tatia M C Lee
- Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
- Laboratory of Cognitive Affective Neuroscience, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
- State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
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42
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Ma G, Yang D, Qin W, Liu Y, Jiang T, Yu C. Enhanced Functional Coupling of Hippocampal Sub-regions in Congenitally and Late Blind Subjects. Front Neurosci 2017; 10:612. [PMID: 28119560 PMCID: PMC5222804 DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2016.00612] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2016] [Accepted: 12/26/2016] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The hippocampus has exhibited navigation-related changes in volume and activity after visual deprivation; however, the resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) changes of the hippocampus in the blind remains unknown. In this study, we focused on sub-region-specific rsFC changes of the hippocampus and their association with the onset age of blindness. The rsFC patterns of the hippocampal sub-regions (head, body and tail) were compared among 20 congenitally blind (CB), 42 late blind (LB), and 50 sighted controls (SC). Compared with the SC, both the CB and the LB showed increased hippocampal rsFCs with the posterior cingulate cortex, angular gyrus, parieto-occpital sulcus, middle occipito-temporal conjunction, inferior temporal gyrus, orbital frontal cortex, and middle frontal gyrus. In the blind subjects, the hippocampal tail had more extensive rsFC changes than the anterior hippocampus (body and head). The CB and the LB had similar changes in hippocampal rsFC. These altered rsFCs of the hippocampal sub-regions were neither correlated with onset age in the LB nor the duration of blindness in CB or LB subjects. The increased coupling of the hippocampal intrinsic functional network may reflect enhanced loading of the hippocampal-related networks for non-visual memory processing. Furthermore, the similar changes of hippocampal rsFCs between the CB and the LB suggests an experience-dependent rather than a developmental-dependent plasticity of the hippocampal intrinsic functional network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guangyang Ma
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General HospitalTianjin, China; Key Laboratory of Hormones and Development (Ministry of Health), Tianjin Key Laboratory of Metabolic Diseases, Tianjin Metabolic Diseases Hospital & Tianjin Institute of Endocrinology, Tianjin Medical UniversityTianjin, China
| | - Dan Yang
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General HospitalTianjin, China; Tianjin Central Hospital of Gynecology ObstetricsTianjin, China
| | - Wen Qin
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital Tianjin, China
| | - Yong Liu
- Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, China
| | - Tianzi Jiang
- Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing, China
| | - Chunshui Yu
- Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital Tianjin, China
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43
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Abstract
The principles that guide large-scale cortical reorganization remain unclear. In the blind, several visual regions preserve their task specificity; ventral visual areas, for example, become engaged in auditory and tactile object-recognition tasks. It remains open whether task-specific reorganization is unique to the visual cortex or, alternatively, whether this kind of plasticity is a general principle applying to other cortical areas. Auditory areas can become recruited for visual and tactile input in the deaf. Although nonhuman data suggest that this reorganization might be task specific, human evidence has been lacking. Here we enrolled 15 deaf and 15 hearing adults into an functional MRI experiment during which they discriminated between temporally complex sequences of stimuli (rhythms). Both deaf and hearing subjects performed the task visually, in the central visual field. In addition, hearing subjects performed the same task in the auditory modality. We found that the visual task robustly activated the auditory cortex in deaf subjects, peaking in the posterior-lateral part of high-level auditory areas. This activation pattern was strikingly similar to the pattern found in hearing subjects performing the auditory version of the task. Although performing the visual task in deaf subjects induced an increase in functional connectivity between the auditory cortex and the dorsal visual cortex, no such effect was found in hearing subjects. We conclude that in deaf humans the high-level auditory cortex switches its input modality from sound to vision but preserves its task-specific activation pattern independent of input modality. Task-specific reorganization thus might be a general principle that guides cortical plasticity in the brain.
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44
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König SU, Schumann F, Keyser J, Goeke C, Krause C, Wache S, Lytochkin A, Ebert M, Brunsch V, Wahn B, Kaspar K, Nagel SK, Meilinger T, Bülthoff H, Wolbers T, Büchel C, König P. Learning New Sensorimotor Contingencies: Effects of Long-Term Use of Sensory Augmentation on the Brain and Conscious Perception. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0166647. [PMID: 27959914 PMCID: PMC5154504 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0166647] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2016] [Accepted: 09/28/2016] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Theories of embodied cognition propose that perception is shaped by sensory stimuli and by the actions of the organism. Following sensorimotor contingency theory, the mastery of lawful relations between own behavior and resulting changes in sensory signals, called sensorimotor contingencies, is constitutive of conscious perception. Sensorimotor contingency theory predicts that, after training, knowledge relating to new sensorimotor contingencies develops, leading to changes in the activation of sensorimotor systems, and concomitant changes in perception. In the present study, we spell out this hypothesis in detail and investigate whether it is possible to learn new sensorimotor contingencies by sensory augmentation. Specifically, we designed an fMRI compatible sensory augmentation device, the feelSpace belt, which gives orientation information about the direction of magnetic north via vibrotactile stimulation on the waist of participants. In a longitudinal study, participants trained with this belt for seven weeks in natural environment. Our EEG results indicate that training with the belt leads to changes in sleep architecture early in the training phase, compatible with the consolidation of procedural learning as well as increased sensorimotor processing and motor programming. The fMRI results suggest that training entails activity in sensory as well as higher motor centers and brain areas known to be involved in navigation. These neural changes are accompanied with changes in how space and the belt signal are perceived, as well as with increased trust in navigational ability. Thus, our data on physiological processes and subjective experiences are compatible with the hypothesis that new sensorimotor contingencies can be acquired using sensory augmentation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabine U. König
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Frank Schumann
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
- Laboratoire Psychologie de la Perception, Université Paris Descartes, Paris, France
| | - Johannes Keyser
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Caspar Goeke
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Carina Krause
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Susan Wache
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Aleksey Lytochkin
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Manuel Ebert
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Vincent Brunsch
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Basil Wahn
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Kai Kaspar
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
- Department of Psychology, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
| | - Saskia K. Nagel
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
| | - Tobias Meilinger
- Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics, Tübingen, Germany
| | | | - Thomas Wolbers
- Aging & Cognition Research Group, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Magdeburg, Germany
| | - Christian Büchel
- NeuroImage Nord, Department of Systems Neuroscience, Hamburg University Hospital Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Peter König
- Institute of Cognitive Science, University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
- Department of Neurophysiology and Pathophysiology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
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Cecchetti L, Kupers R, Ptito M, Pietrini P, Ricciardi E. Are Supramodality and Cross-Modal Plasticity the Yin and Yang of Brain Development? From Blindness to Rehabilitation. Front Syst Neurosci 2016; 10:89. [PMID: 27877116 PMCID: PMC5099160 DOI: 10.3389/fnsys.2016.00089] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2016] [Accepted: 10/27/2016] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Research in blind individuals has primarily focused for a long time on the brain plastic reorganization that occurs in early visual areas. Only more recently, scientists have developed innovative strategies to understand to what extent vision is truly a mandatory prerequisite for the brain's fine morphological architecture to develop and function. As a whole, the studies conducted to date in sighted and congenitally blind individuals have provided ample evidence that several "visual" cortical areas develop independently from visual experience and do process information content regardless of the sensory modality through which a particular stimulus is conveyed: a property named supramodality. At the same time, lack of vision leads to a structural and functional reorganization within "visual" brain areas, a phenomenon known as cross-modal plasticity. Cross-modal recruitment of the occipital cortex in visually deprived individuals represents an adaptative compensatory mechanism that mediates processing of non-visual inputs. Supramodality and cross-modal plasticity appears to be the "yin and yang" of brain development: supramodal is what takes place despite the lack of vision, whereas cross-modal is what happens because of lack of vision. Here we provide a critical overview of the research in this field and discuss the implications that these novel findings have for the development of educative/rehabilitation approaches and sensory substitution devices (SSDs) in sensory-impaired individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Luca Cecchetti
- Department of Surgical, Medical, Molecular Pathology and Critical Care, University of PisaPisa, Italy; Clinical Psychology Branch, Pisa University HospitalPisa, Italy
| | - Ron Kupers
- BRAINlab, Department of Neuroscience and Pharmacology, Panum Institute, University of CopenhagenCopenhagen, Denmark; Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Yale UniversityNew Haven, CT, USA
| | - Maurice Ptito
- Laboratory of Neuropsychiatry, Psychiatric Centre CopenhagenCopenhagen, Denmark; School of Optometry, Université de MontréalMontréal, QC, Canada
| | | | - Emiliano Ricciardi
- Department of Surgical, Medical, Molecular Pathology and Critical Care, University of PisaPisa, Italy; MOMILab, IMT School for Advanced Studies LuccaLucca, Italy
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46
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Banf M, Mikalay R, Watzke B, Blanz V. PictureSensation - a mobile application to help the blind explore the visual world through touch and sound. J Rehabil Assist Technol Eng 2016; 3:2055668316674582. [PMID: 31186914 PMCID: PMC6453065 DOI: 10.1177/2055668316674582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2015] [Accepted: 05/18/2016] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
We present PictureSensation, a mobile application for the hapto-acoustic
exploration of images. It is designed to allow for the visually impaired to gain
direct perceptual access to images via an acoustic signal. PictureSensation
introduces a swipe-gesture based, speech-guided, barrier free user interface to
guarantee autonomous usage by a blind user. It implements a recently proposed
exploration and audification principle, which harnesses exploration methods that
the visually impaired are used to from everyday life. In brief, a user explores
an image actively on a touch screen and receives auditory feedback about its
content at his current finger position. PictureSensation provides an extensive
tutorial and training mode, to allow for a blind user to become familiar with
the use of the application itself as well as the principles of image content to
sound transformations, without any assistance from a normal-sighted person. We
show our application’s potential to help visually impaired individuals explore,
interpret and understand entire scenes, even on small smartphone screens.
Providing more than just verbal scene descriptions, PictureSensation presents a
valuable mobile tool to grant the blind access to the visual world through
exploration, anywhere.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael Banf
- Media Systems Group, Institute for Vision and Graphics, Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Siegen, Germany
| | - Ruben Mikalay
- Media Systems Group, Institute for Vision and Graphics, Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Siegen, Germany
| | - Baris Watzke
- Media Systems Group, Institute for Vision and Graphics, Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Siegen, Germany
| | - Volker Blanz
- Media Systems Group, Institute for Vision and Graphics, Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, University of Siegen, Germany
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47
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Proulx MJ, Gwinnutt J, Dell'Erba S, Levy-Tzedek S, de Sousa AA, Brown DJ. Other ways of seeing: From behavior to neural mechanisms in the online "visual" control of action with sensory substitution. Restor Neurol Neurosci 2016; 34:29-44. [PMID: 26599473 PMCID: PMC4927905 DOI: 10.3233/rnn-150541] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Vision is the dominant sense for perception-for-action in humans and other higher primates. Advances in sight restoration now utilize the other intact senses to provide information that is normally sensed visually through sensory substitution to replace missing visual information. Sensory substitution devices translate visual information from a sensor, such as a camera or ultrasound device, into a format that the auditory or tactile systems can detect and process, so the visually impaired can see through hearing or touch. Online control of action is essential for many daily tasks such as pointing, grasping and navigating, and adapting to a sensory substitution device successfully requires extensive learning. Here we review the research on sensory substitution for vision restoration in the context of providing the means of online control for action in the blind or blindfolded. It appears that the use of sensory substitution devices utilizes the neural visual system; this suggests the hypothesis that sensory substitution draws on the same underlying mechanisms as unimpaired visual control of action. Here we review the current state of the art for sensory substitution approaches to object recognition, localization, and navigation, and the potential these approaches have for revealing a metamodal behavioral and neural basis for the online control of action.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michael J Proulx
- Crossmodal Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, UK
| | - James Gwinnutt
- Crossmodal Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, UK
| | - Sara Dell'Erba
- Crossmodal Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, UK
| | - Shelly Levy-Tzedek
- Cognition, Aging and Rehabilitation Lab, Recanati School for Community Health Professions, Department of Physical Therapy & Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, Israel
| | - Alexandra A de Sousa
- Crossmodal Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, UK.,Department of Science, Bath Spa University, Bath, UK
| | - David J Brown
- Crossmodal Cognition Lab, Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, UK
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48
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Abstract
How are the meanings of words, events, and objects represented and organized in the brain? This question, perhaps more than any other in the field, probes some of the deepest and most foundational puzzles regarding the structure of the mind and brain. Accordingly, it has spawned a field of inquiry that is diverse and multidisciplinary, has led to the discovery of numerous empirical phenomena, and has spurred the development of a wide range of theoretical positions. This special issue brings together the most recent theoretical developments from the leaders in the field, representing a range of viewpoints on issues of fundamental significance to a theory of meaning representation. Here we introduce the special issue by way of pulling out some key themes that cut across the contributions that form this issue and situating those themes in the broader literature. The core issues around which research on conceptual representation can be organized are representational format, representational content, the organization of concepts in the brain, and the processing dynamics that govern interactions between the conceptual system and sensorimotor representations. We highlight areas in which consensus has formed; for those areas in which opinion is divided, we seek to clarify the relation of theory and evidence and to set in relief the bridging assumptions that undergird current discussions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bradford Z Mahon
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester, Meliora Hall, Rochester, NY, 14627-0268, USA.
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA.
- Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA.
- Center for Language Sciences, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY, USA.
| | - Gregory Hickok
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
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49
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Functional dissociation between action and perception of object shape in developmental visual object agnosia. Cortex 2016; 76:17-27. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2015.12.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/18/2015] [Revised: 10/27/2015] [Accepted: 12/18/2015] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
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50
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Tal Z, Geva R, Amedi A. The origins of metamodality in visual object area LO: Bodily topographical biases and increased functional connectivity to S1. Neuroimage 2015; 127:363-375. [PMID: 26673114 PMCID: PMC4758827 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2015.11.058] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2015] [Revised: 10/16/2015] [Accepted: 11/24/2015] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent evidence from blind participants suggests that visual areas are task-oriented and sensory modality input independent rather than sensory-specific to vision. Specifically, visual areas are thought to retain their functional selectivity when using non-visual inputs (touch or sound) even without having any visual experience. However, this theory is still controversial since it is not clear whether this also characterizes the sighted brain, and whether the reported results in the sighted reflect basic fundamental a-modal processes or are an epiphenomenon to a large extent. In the current study, we addressed these questions using a series of fMRI experiments aimed to explore visual cortex responses to passive touch on various body parts and the coupling between the parietal and visual cortices as manifested by functional connectivity. We show that passive touch robustly activated the object selective parts of the lateral–occipital (LO) cortex while deactivating almost all other occipital–retinotopic-areas. Furthermore, passive touch responses in the visual cortex were specific to hand and upper trunk stimulations. Psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analysis suggests that LO is functionally connected to the hand area in the primary somatosensory homunculus (S1), during hand and shoulder stimulations but not to any of the other body parts. We suggest that LO is a fundamental hub that serves as a node between visual-object selective areas and S1 hand representation, probably due to the critical evolutionary role of touch in object recognition and manipulation. These results might also point to a more general principle suggesting that recruitment or deactivation of the visual cortex by other sensory input depends on the ecological relevance of the information conveyed by this input to the task/computations carried out by each area or network. This is likely to rely on the unique and differential pattern of connectivity for each visual area with the rest of the brain. We studied cross-modal effects of passive somatosensory inputs on the visual cortex. Passive touch on the body evoked massive deactivation in the visual cortex. Passive hand stimulation evoked unique activation in visual object area LO. This area was also uniquely connected to the hand area in Penfield's homunculus — S1.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zohar Tal
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, Institute of Medical Research Israel - Canada (IMRIC), Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91220, Israel.
| | - Ran Geva
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, Institute of Medical Research Israel - Canada (IMRIC), Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91220, Israel
| | - Amir Amedi
- Department of Medical Neurobiology, Institute of Medical Research Israel - Canada (IMRIC), Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91220, Israel; The Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Science (ELSC), The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91220, Israel; Program of Cognitive Science, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91220, Israel
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