NEURAL PLASTICITY ASSOCIATED WITH BRAILLE LEARNING

描述：本研究讨论了未使用的皮层区域 当一种新的感官取代了一种感官时， 任务提出。 先前，我们已经证明盲人盲文 读者在触觉盲文阅读期间使用“视觉”皮层。 这 表明，视觉输入传入阻滞后，纹状体神经元 能够响应来自其他感官的输入（触摸）。 现在我们想 调查这种现象是否是由于潜在的 通过研究密集的触觉盲文训练对 被蒙上眼睛的人的纹状体活动。 四组视力 受试者在研究期间将被蒙上眼睛或不被蒙上眼睛（7 天），并进行密集的触觉训练或没有。 神经生理学和神经影像学技术将用于评估 感觉运动和视觉皮层活动在开始和结束的 7天的学习时间。 我们假设：（1）无论视觉 功能，学习触觉盲文将与扩大 阅读手指的感觉表征。 功能性MRI （fMRI）和体感诱发电位（SEP）将被用来测试这一点 假设;（2）视觉剥夺的受试者将更快地学习触觉盲文 视力正常的受试者。 盲文学习曲线 通过对所有受试者进行日常测试， 使用特别设计的盲文刺激器;（3）学习盲文是 视觉剥夺的受试者将与枕叶的激活相关， 视觉皮层由于现有连接的暴露。 在非视觉 被剥夺的人这个过程就不会发生。 体感诱发电位功能磁共振成像 神经眼科学和神经心理学评估将用于研究 在7天研究开始和结束时纹状体皮质的功能 期 这些结果将加深我们对这些能力的理解， 成年人的大脑在受伤后进行重组， 重要信息的战略设计，以优化调整， 特别是视力丧失，以及神经损伤后的功能恢复 一般的伤害。

DESCRIPTION: This study addresses the extent to which unused cortical areas normally subserving one sense can be taken over by another sense when a new task is presented. Previously, we have demonstrated that blind Braille readers use the 'visual' cortex during tactile Braille reading. This suggests that after visual input deafferentation, striatal neurons are capable of responding to input from other senses (touch). Now we want to investigate whether this phenomenon is due to unmasking of latent connections by studying the effects of intensive tactile Braille training on striatal activity in blindfolded sighted subjects. Four groups of sighted subjects will either be blindfolded or not for the duration of the study (7 days) and either undergo intensive tactile training or not. Neurophysiologic and neuroimaging techniques will be used to evaluate sensorimotor and visual cortical activity at the beginning and the end of the 7 day study period. We hypothesize that: (1) regardless of visual function, learning tactile Braille will be associated with an enlargement of the sensory representation of the pad of the reading finger. Functional MRI (fMRI) and somatosensory evoked potentials (SEP) will be used to test this hypothesis; (2) visually deprived subjects will learn tactile Braille faster than non-visually deprived sighted subjects. Learning curves for Braille character recognition will be generated by daily testing of all subjects with a specially designed Braille stimulator; and (3) learning Braille is visually deprived subjects will be associated with activation of occipital visual cortex due to unmasking of existing connections. In non-visually deprived subjects this process will not take place. SEP, fMRI, neurophthalmologic and neuropsychologic evaluations will be used to study the function of striatal cortex at the beginning and end of the 7 day study period. The results will enhance our understanding about the capabilities of the adult human brain to reorganize following an injury and provide important information for the design of strategies to optimize adjustment to loss of sight in particular, and recovery of function following neural injury in general.