Tactile perception of blind and sighted persons

在盲人的大脑中观察到两种有趣的变化--被称为神经可塑性。 对于盲人盲文阅读者来说，大脑的触觉部分中有一个非常大的部分专门用于处理来自盲文阅读指尖的信息。 更值得注意的是，盲人大脑皮层的正常视觉区域对触摸也有反应。 这个建议的目的是确定盲人大脑的这两个特征的感知结果是什么，如果有的话。 盲人的触觉是否会因为这两种变化中的一种或两种而增强？ 该提案将通过测试盲人盲文阅读者、非阅读者和视力正常的对照组在涉及感知纹理和振动的不同触觉任务上来解决这个问题。 在一些参与者执行这些任务期间，还将监测脑电图大脑活动。

Two interesting types of changes -- known as neuroplasticity -- are observed in the brains of blind people.  In blind Braille readers, an unusually large portion of the tactile part of the brain is devoted to processing information from the Braille reading fingertip.  Even more remarkably, the normally visual areas of the cerebral cortex become responsive to touch in blind persons.  The purpose of this proposal is to determine what, if any, are the perceptual consequences of these two features of the brains of blind people.  Do blind people have a heightened sense of touch due to either or both of these changes?  The proposal will address this question by testing blind Braille readers, nonreaders, and a sighted comparison group on different tactile tasks involving the perception of textures and of vibrations.  Electroencephalagraphic brain activity will also be monitored during the performance of these tasks in some of the participants.