Functional connectivity between somatosensory and visual cortex in early blind humans

The European Journal of Neuroscience
George F WittenbergLeonardo Cohen

Abstract

Crossmodal plasticity occurs when loss of input in one sensory modality leads to reorganization in brain representations of other sensory modalities. In congenital blindness the visual cortex becomes responsive to somatosensory input such as occurs during Braille reading. The route by which somatosensory information reaches the visual cortex is not known. Here, we used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to probe the connection between primary somatosensory cortex (S1) and early visual cortex (V1 and neighboring areas), combining rTMS with positron emission tomography (PET). We applied stimulation over S1 in sighted, early blind and late blind individuals. Baseline regional cerebral blood flow in occipital cortex was highest in early blind and lowest in late blind individuals. Only the early blind group showed significant activation of early visual areas when rTMS was delivered over S1. This activation was significantly higher in early than in late blind, but not relative to sighted controls. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that tactile information may reach early visual areas in early blind humans through cortico-cortical pathways, possibly supporting enhanced tactile information processing.

References

Jun 1, 1992·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·J P RauscheckerU Egert
May 1, 1989·Journal of Neurophysiology·A M AertsenG Palm
May 1, 1986·Physics in Medicine and Biology·V DhawanD A Rottenberg
Apr 11, 1996·Nature·T Pons
Aug 18, 1997·Neuroreport·P FoxP Jerabek
Feb 14, 1998·Neuroreport·K SathianS T Grafton
Jul 29, 1998·Brain : a Journal of Neurology·N SadatoM Hallett
Mar 11, 1999·Biological Psychiatry·D E BohningM S George
Apr 22, 1999·Annals of Neurology·L G CohenM Hallett
Jul 1, 1999·NeuroImage·K J FristonK J Worsley
Feb 27, 2001·Nature Neuroscience·A AmediE Zohary
Sep 25, 2001·Behavioural Neurology·Chris Rorden, Matthew Brett
Apr 26, 2002·Neuroreport·Thomas KauffmanAlvaro Pascual-Leone
May 29, 2002·NeuroImage·Norihiro SadatoYoshiharu Yonekura

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Citations

Jan 29, 2008·Experimental Brain Research·Maurice PtitoRon Kupers
Sep 3, 2008·Experimental Brain Research·Olivier CollignonFranco Lepore
Jun 18, 2009·Experimental Brain Research·Michael J BanissyJamie Ward
Nov 8, 2011·Experimental Brain Research·Manuel MenzocchiAlain Berthoz
Oct 8, 2008·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Brenda Toscano-MárquezGabriel Gutiérrez-Ospina
Jul 9, 2013·Brain : a Journal of Neurology·Olivier CollignonFranco Lepore
Dec 31, 2005·Journal of Integrative Neuroscience·Maurice Ptito, Ron Kupers
Jul 19, 2005·Annual Review of Neuroscience·Alvaro Pascual-LeoneLotfi B Merabet
Jul 8, 2009·Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience·Rob H J Van der LubbeAlbert Postma
Aug 30, 2008·PloS One·Lotfi B MerabetAlvaro Pascual-Leone
Mar 24, 2007·Perception & Psychophysics·Daniel Goldreich, Ingrid M Kanics
Mar 11, 2011·The International Journal of Clinical and Experimental Hypnosis·Eleonora CastellaniEnrica Laura Santarcangelo
Aug 19, 2006·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Ron KupersMaurice Ptito
Dec 18, 2013·Clinical Neurophysiology : Official Journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology·Marco SchieppatiStefania Sozzi
Nov 26, 2009·Nature Reviews. Neuroscience·Lotfi B Merabet, Alvaro Pascual-Leone
Jan 18, 2016·Trends in Neurosciences·David J Ostry, Paul L Gribble
Feb 15, 2012·Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews·Achille Pasqualotto, Michael J Proulx
Apr 2, 2011·Clinical Neurophysiology : Official Journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology·Elif Kocasoy OrhanA Emre Öge
Jan 12, 2008·Clinical Neurophysiology : Official Journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology·Hiroshi Shibasaki
Feb 16, 2008·Neuroscience Letters·Nicole ChabotGilles Bronchti
Aug 13, 2011·NeuroImage·Yavor YalachkovMarcus J Naumer
Oct 24, 2007·The European Journal of Neuroscience·Nicole ChabotGilles Bronchti
Mar 4, 2008·Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology·S M BovaE Fazzi
Sep 21, 2011·Human Brain Mapping·Chetwyn C H ChanTatia M C Lee
May 1, 2010·Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. Cognitive Science·Patrice VossFranco Lepore
Jun 9, 2006·Clinical Neurophysiology : Official Journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology·Anne KriegseisBrigitte Röder
Feb 10, 2006·Neuroscience Letters·F SchothT Krings
May 28, 2013·Neural Plasticity·Dawei WangChunshui Yu
Jul 11, 2013·Neural Plasticity·Wen Qin, Chunshui Yu
Mar 20, 2014·Cerebral Cortex·Wen QinChunshui Yu
Aug 21, 2013·Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews·Ron Kupers, Maurice Ptito
Mar 5, 2013·Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews·Laurent RenierJosef P Rauschecker
Dec 3, 2014·Vision Research·Samantha I CunninghamBosco S Tjan

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Barrel cortex

Here is the latest research on barrel cortex, a region of somatosensory and motor corticies in the brain, which are used by animals that rely on whiskers for world exploration.