Linked Life Data

9296495

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/9296495

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
6647
pubmed:dateCreated
1997-10-1
pubmed:abstractText
Functional imaging studies of people who were blind from an early age have revealed that their primary visual cortex can be activated by Braille reading and other tactile discrimination tasks. Other studies have also shown that visual cortical areas can be activated by somatosensory input in blind subjects but not those with sight. The significance of this cross-modal plasticity is unclear, however, as it is not known whether the visual cortex can process somatosensory information in a functionally relevant way. To address this issue, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation to disrupt the function of different cortical areas in people who were blind from an early age as they identified Braille or embossed Roman letters. Transient stimulation of the occipital (visual) cortex induced errors in both tasks and distorted the tactile perceptions of blind subjects. In contrast, occipital stimulation had no effect on tactile performance in normal-sighted subjects, whereas similar stimulation is known to disrupt their visual performance. We conclude that blindness from an early age can cause the visual cortex to be recruited to a role in somatosensory processing. We propose that this cross-modal plasticity may account in part for the superior tactile perceptual abilities of blind subjects.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Sep
pubmed:issn
0028-0836
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:day
11
pubmed:volume
389
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
180-3
pubmed:dateRevised
2004-11-17
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
1997
pubmed:articleTitle
Functional relevance of cross-modal plasticity in blind humans.
pubmed:affiliation
Human Cortical Physiology Unit, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-1428, USA. lcohen@codon.nih.gov
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article