Functional cerebral reorganization for auditory spatial processing and auditory substitution of vision in early blind subjects
Functional cerebral reorganization for auditory spatial processing and auditory substitution of vision in early blind subjects
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DOI：
10.1093/cercor/bhj162
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发表时间：
2007-02-01
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Veraart, Claude
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Collignon, Olivier;Lassonde, Maryse;Veraart, Claude
早期失明（EB）的人可以识别二维形状使用假肢替代视觉与听觉（PSVA）和激活右背纹外视皮层在执行这项任务。本研究使用重复经颅磁刺激（rTMS），以进一步研究该结构在成功使用PSVA的功能作用。此外，我们研究了假体中使用的听觉参数（音高，强度或空间位置）可能有助于枕叶激活。结果表明，rTMS应用于右背侧纹外皮层EB受试者干扰PSVA的使用和听觉空间定位任务，但不与音高和强度的歧视。相比之下，在有视力的受试者中，针对相同皮层区域的rTMS不会影响任何听觉任务的表现。因此，早期视觉剥夺导致听觉信息处理和视觉-听觉感觉替代的功能性大脑跨通道重组。研究结果还指出，具体参与的背视觉流听觉空间处理盲人。此外，这表明可以使用这些额外的神经资源开发感觉替代假体，以执行部分补偿视力丧失的任务。
Early blind (EB) individuals can recognize bidimensional shapes using a prosthesis substituting vision with audition (PSVA) and activate right dorsal extrastriate visual cortex during the execution of this task. The present study used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to further examine the functional role of this structure in the successful use of the PSVA. Moreover, we investigated which auditory parameter used in the prosthesis (pitch, intensity, or spatial location) might contribute to this occipital activation. Results revealed that rTMS applied to right dorsal extrastriate cortex in EB subjects interferes with both the PSVA use and the auditory spatial location task but not with pitch and intensity discriminations. By contrast, rTMS targeting the same cortical areas in sighted subjects did not affect performance on any auditory tasks. Early visual deprivation thus leads to functional cerebral cross-modal reorganization in the processing of auditory information and auditory-to-visual sensory substitution. The findings also point to the specific involvement of the dorsal visual stream for auditory spatial processing in blind subjects. Moreover, this suggests that sensory substitution prostheses can be developed using these additional neural resources to perform tasks that partially compensate for the loss of vision.