Crossmodal Recruitment of the Ventral Visual Stream in Congenital Blindness
We used functional MRI (fMRI) to test the hypothesis that blind subjects recruit the ventral visual stream during nonhaptic tactile-form recognition. Congenitally blind and blindfolded sighted control subjects were scanned after they had been trained during four consecutive days to perform a tactile...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2012-01-01
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| Series: | Neural Plasticity |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/304045 |
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| _version_ | 1841524509245440000 |
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| author | Maurice Ptito Isabelle Matteau Arthur Zhi Wang Olaf B. Paulson Hartwig R. Siebner Ron Kupers |
| author_facet | Maurice Ptito Isabelle Matteau Arthur Zhi Wang Olaf B. Paulson Hartwig R. Siebner Ron Kupers |
| author_sort | Maurice Ptito |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | We used functional MRI (fMRI) to test the hypothesis that blind subjects recruit the ventral visual stream during nonhaptic tactile-form recognition. Congenitally blind and blindfolded sighted control subjects were scanned after they had been trained during four consecutive days to perform a tactile-form recognition task with the tongue display unit (TDU). Both groups learned the task at the same rate. In line with our hypothesis, the fMRI data showed that during nonhaptic shape recognition, blind subjects activated large portions of the ventral visual stream, including the cuneus, precuneus, inferotemporal (IT), cortex, lateral occipital tactile vision area (LOtv), and fusiform gyrus. Control subjects activated area LOtv and precuneus but not cuneus, IT and fusiform gyrus. These results indicate that congenitally blind subjects recruit key regions in the ventral visual pathway during nonhaptic tactile shape discrimination. The activation of LOtv by nonhaptic tactile shape processing in blind and sighted subjects adds further support to the notion that this area subserves an abstract or supramodal representation of shape. Together with our previous findings, our data suggest that the segregation of the efferent projections of the primary visual cortex into a dorsal and ventral visual stream is preserved in individuals blind from birth. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-0a0651834da949b8bcb7f55cb3baf2f0 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2090-5904 1687-5443 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2012-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Neural Plasticity |
| spelling | doaj-art-0a0651834da949b8bcb7f55cb3baf2f02025-02-03T05:53:02ZengWileyNeural Plasticity2090-59041687-54432012-01-01201210.1155/2012/304045304045Crossmodal Recruitment of the Ventral Visual Stream in Congenital BlindnessMaurice Ptito0Isabelle Matteau1Arthur Zhi Wang2Olaf B. Paulson3Hartwig R. Siebner4Ron Kupers5École d’Optométrie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, H3T 1P1, CanadaÉcole d’Optométrie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, H3T 1P1, CanadaDanish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, 2650 Hvidovre, DenmarkDanish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, 2650 Hvidovre, DenmarkDanish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, 2650 Hvidovre, DenmarkÉcole d’Optométrie, Université de Montréal, Montréal, QC, H3T 1P1, CanadaWe used functional MRI (fMRI) to test the hypothesis that blind subjects recruit the ventral visual stream during nonhaptic tactile-form recognition. Congenitally blind and blindfolded sighted control subjects were scanned after they had been trained during four consecutive days to perform a tactile-form recognition task with the tongue display unit (TDU). Both groups learned the task at the same rate. In line with our hypothesis, the fMRI data showed that during nonhaptic shape recognition, blind subjects activated large portions of the ventral visual stream, including the cuneus, precuneus, inferotemporal (IT), cortex, lateral occipital tactile vision area (LOtv), and fusiform gyrus. Control subjects activated area LOtv and precuneus but not cuneus, IT and fusiform gyrus. These results indicate that congenitally blind subjects recruit key regions in the ventral visual pathway during nonhaptic tactile shape discrimination. The activation of LOtv by nonhaptic tactile shape processing in blind and sighted subjects adds further support to the notion that this area subserves an abstract or supramodal representation of shape. Together with our previous findings, our data suggest that the segregation of the efferent projections of the primary visual cortex into a dorsal and ventral visual stream is preserved in individuals blind from birth.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/304045 |
| spellingShingle | Maurice Ptito Isabelle Matteau Arthur Zhi Wang Olaf B. Paulson Hartwig R. Siebner Ron Kupers Crossmodal Recruitment of the Ventral Visual Stream in Congenital Blindness Neural Plasticity |
| title | Crossmodal Recruitment of the Ventral Visual Stream in Congenital Blindness |
| title_full | Crossmodal Recruitment of the Ventral Visual Stream in Congenital Blindness |
| title_fullStr | Crossmodal Recruitment of the Ventral Visual Stream in Congenital Blindness |
| title_full_unstemmed | Crossmodal Recruitment of the Ventral Visual Stream in Congenital Blindness |
| title_short | Crossmodal Recruitment of the Ventral Visual Stream in Congenital Blindness |
| title_sort | crossmodal recruitment of the ventral visual stream in congenital blindness |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2012/304045 |
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