Cross-modal motion responses in blind and deaf humans

描述(由申请人提供)：尽管由于感觉剥夺而导致的跨通道可塑性已被广泛的大脑区域证明，用于广泛的任务，但我们仍然对跨通道是如何或为什么会如此发展知之甚少。一般认为，当正常输入被剥夺时，大脑区域继续发挥其功能作用，但使用来自其他形式的输入。为了支持这一点，研究表明，MT+，一个对正常视力个体的视觉运动具有高度选择性的大脑区域，对听觉和 早期失明后的触觉运动。同样，对合成声音的表观运动敏感的初级听觉和周围皮质(PAC+)可以被深度失聪受试者的视觉运动激活。然而，目前还不清楚这些跨通道反应是否具有任何行为相关性，或者这些反应是否具有正常功能的共同架构。这个拟议项目的目标是在聋人和盲人中使用大胆的多体素模式分析和适应技术的组合来解决这些问题。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Although cross-modal plasticity as a result of sensory deprivation has been documented across a wide variety of brain areas for a wide range of tasks we still have very little idea how or why cross-modal develops as it does. It is generally supposed that, when deprived of normal input, brain areas continue to fulfill their functional role but use input from other modalities. In support of this, it has been shown that MT+, a brain region highly selective for visual motion in normally sighted individuals, responds to auditory and tactile motion after early blindness. Similarly, primary auditory and surrounding cortex (PAC+), which is sensitive to apparent movement of synthesized sounds, can be activated by visual motion in profoundly deaf subjects. However, it is not clear whether these cross-modal responses carry any behavioral relevance, or whether such responses share common architecture with normal functions. The goal of this proposed project is to address these questions using a combination of BOLD multivoxel pattern analysis and adaptation techniques within both deaf and blind individuals.