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kestrellArticle and audio report from Voice of America, posted to Art Beyond Sight mailing list
Blind Use Visual Parts of Brain to Improve Other Senses
A new study helps explain why blind people seem to have advanced perception of sound and touch.
People who have been blind from birth use visual parts of their brain to hone their sense of sound and touch, according to new research. These
keen senses could be used to help the blind better navigate their world, according to Georgetown University professor Josef Rauschecker.
The new study has added another piece to the puzzle as scientists learn
more about how the brains of blind people work.
Years ago, scientists began to learn that certain parts of the brain
were dedicated to certain purposes. One section was in charge of
breathing; another dealt with the sense of smell. Then came the
realization that the brain was changeable - or "plastic" - and could
sometimes reorganize itself when conditions required.
Rauschecker has been studying the question: Could that account for the
idea that blind people compensate for their vision loss by improving
their other senses?
"Just think of Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, so many," he says. "Andrea
Bocelli, if you prefer classical music."
In previous research, Rauschecker and other scientists have found that
in blind people, the visual cortex, the part of the brain that processes
sight, can be used to process sound and touch. But that visual cortex is
itself divided into discrete modules that perform different visual
functions.
"Now, the question is: do blind people have that same or similar
functional organization, that these modules actually stay put and just
get re-dedicated to touch and hearing? And the answer is yes," says
Rauschecker.
To come up with that answer, the researchers used a functional MRI
scanner to visualize brain activity as blind people in the study
experienced various tactile and audible sensations. The scientists could
see what part of the brain was being used to process the sensory inputs.
For example, when stereo sounds were used to simulate a
three-dimensional space, the brain's spatial module was activated, as it
would be in a sighted person.
Rauschecker says this study and earlier research has enabled
collaborators to build a prototype device to process images taken by a
camera into sensations that could be used by a blind person wearing it.
Joseph Rauschecker and colleagues describe their work in the journal Neuron.
Find this article at:
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/health/Blind-Use-Visual-Parts-of-Brain-to-Improve-Other-Senses-104571639.html
Blind Use Visual Parts of Brain to Improve Other Senses
A new study helps explain why blind people seem to have advanced perception of sound and touch.
People who have been blind from birth use visual parts of their brain to hone their sense of sound and touch, according to new research. These
keen senses could be used to help the blind better navigate their world, according to Georgetown University professor Josef Rauschecker.
The new study has added another piece to the puzzle as scientists learn
more about how the brains of blind people work.
Years ago, scientists began to learn that certain parts of the brain
were dedicated to certain purposes. One section was in charge of
breathing; another dealt with the sense of smell. Then came the
realization that the brain was changeable - or "plastic" - and could
sometimes reorganize itself when conditions required.
Rauschecker has been studying the question: Could that account for the
idea that blind people compensate for their vision loss by improving
their other senses?
"Just think of Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, so many," he says. "Andrea
Bocelli, if you prefer classical music."
In previous research, Rauschecker and other scientists have found that
in blind people, the visual cortex, the part of the brain that processes
sight, can be used to process sound and touch. But that visual cortex is
itself divided into discrete modules that perform different visual
functions.
"Now, the question is: do blind people have that same or similar
functional organization, that these modules actually stay put and just
get re-dedicated to touch and hearing? And the answer is yes," says
Rauschecker.
To come up with that answer, the researchers used a functional MRI
scanner to visualize brain activity as blind people in the study
experienced various tactile and audible sensations. The scientists could
see what part of the brain was being used to process the sensory inputs.
For example, when stereo sounds were used to simulate a
three-dimensional space, the brain's spatial module was activated, as it
would be in a sighted person.
Rauschecker says this study and earlier research has enabled
collaborators to build a prototype device to process images taken by a
camera into sensations that could be used by a blind person wearing it.
Joseph Rauschecker and colleagues describe their work in the journal Neuron.
Find this article at:
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/health/Blind-Use-Visual-Parts-of-Brain-to-Improve-Other-Senses-104571639.html
