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Zinchenko A, Geyer T, Gädeke JC, Föcker J. Top-down and emotional attention in blind and sighted individuals. Q J Exp Psychol (Hove) 2025:17470218241311202. [PMID: 39704280 DOI: 10.1177/17470218241311202] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/21/2024]
Abstract
There is evidence that congenitally blind individuals possess superior auditory perceptual skills compared to sighted people. However, relatively little is known about the auditory-specific cortical correlates of spatial attention in the blind and how task-irrelevant emotional stimulus features could further modulate such neural processes. This study tested blind and sighted participants in a challenging auditory discrimination task. All participants were blindfolded and seated between loudspeakers at 45-degree angles, while pseudowords were randomly presented. The task was to identify target sounds from either the left or the right speaker while ignoring nontarget stimuli, the irrelevant loudspeaker, and irrelevant speaker identity. Emotional valence-neutral, happy, fearful, threatening-of pseudowords was task-irrelevant, focusing solely on syllable detection. Our focus was on measuring the moment-to-moment deployment of auditory-selective attention. This was achieved using the lateralized N2ac event-related potential component characterised by greater negativity at anterior electrodes on the side contralateral to an attended auditory stimulus and observed 75 to 250 ms after stimulus onset. We observed that blind individuals showed better behavioural performance and reduced N2ac amplitudes than sighted individuals. Furthermore, for both groups, N2ac amplitudes were increased for the target compared to nontarget stimuli and stimuli appearing at spatially relevant versus irrelevant locations. Our study highlights the superiority of auditory processing capabilities in blind individuals. The results also highlight the N2ac component's sensitivity to top-down attentional engagement and emotional attention, offering new insights into how blind and sighted individuals process auditory information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Artyom Zinchenko
- Department Psychologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany
| | - Thomas Geyer
- Department Psychologie, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany
- Munich Center for Neurosciences-Brain & Mind, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Planegg-Martinsried, Germany
- NICUM-Neuroimaging Core Unit Munich, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, München, Germany
| | - Julia C Gädeke
- Child Psychiatry Service, Novara Local Health Authority, Novara, Italy
| | - Julia Föcker
- School of Psychology, College of Health and Science, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK
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2
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Jendrichovsky P, Lee HK, Kanold PO. Brief periods of visual deprivation in adults increase performance on auditory tasks. iScience 2024; 27:110936. [PMID: 39759077 PMCID: PMC11700649 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.110936] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2024] [Revised: 04/24/2024] [Accepted: 09/09/2024] [Indexed: 01/07/2025] Open
Abstract
Plastic changes in the brain are primarily limited to early postnatal periods. Recovery of adult brain plasticity is critical for the effective development of therapies. A brief (1-2 weeks) duration of visual deprivation (dark exposure, DE) in adult mice can trigger functional plasticity of thalamocortical and intracortical circuits in the primary auditory cortex suggesting improved sound processing. We tested if DE enhances the ability of adult mice to detect sounds. We trained and continuously evaluated the behavioral performance of mice in control and DE conditions using automated home-cage training. Consistent with age-related peripheral hearing loss present in C57BL/6J mice, we observed decreased performance for high-frequency sounds with age, which was reduced by DE. In CBA mice with preserved peripheral hearing, we also found that DE showed modest auditory performance improvements in low and mid frequencies over time compared to the control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Jendrichovsky
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Hey-Kyoung Lee
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Kavli NDI, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Zanvyl-Krieger Mind/Brain Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Patrick O. Kanold
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Kavli NDI, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
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3
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Ming L, Geng L, Zhao X, Wang Y, Hu N, Yang Y, Hu X. The mechanism of phonetic information in voice identity discrimination: a comparative study based on sighted and blind people. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1352692. [PMID: 38845764 PMCID: PMC11153856 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1352692] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/08/2023] [Accepted: 05/10/2024] [Indexed: 06/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine whether phonetic information functions and how phonetic information affects voice identity processing in blind people. Method To address the first inquiry, 25 normal sighted participants and 30 blind participants discriminated voice identity, when listening forward speech and backward speech from their own native language and another unfamiliar language. To address the second inquiry, combining articulatory suppression paradigm, 26 normal sighted participants and 26 blind participants discriminated voice identity, when listening forward speech from their own native language and another unfamiliar language. Results In Experiment 1, not only in the voice identity discrimination task with forward speech, but also in the discrimination task with backward speech, both the sighted and blind groups showed the superiority of the native language. This finding supports the view that backward speech still retains some phonetic information, and indicates that phonetic information can affect voice identity processing in sighted and blind people. In addition, only the superiority of the native language of sighted people was regulated by the speech manner, which is related to articulatory rehearsal. In Experiment 2, only the superiority of the native language of sighted people was regulated by articulatory suppression. This indicates that phonetic information may act in different ways on voice identity processing in sighted and blind people. Conclusion The heightened dependence on voice source information in blind people appears not to undermine the function of phonetic information, but it appears to change the functional mechanism of phonetic information. These findings suggest that the present phonetic familiarity model needs to be improved with respect to the mechanism of phonetic information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lili Ming
- School of Linguistic Sciences and Arts, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, China
- Key Laboratory of Language and Cognitive Neuroscience of Jiangsu Province, Collaborative Innovation Center for Language Ability, Xuzhou, China
| | - Libo Geng
- School of Linguistic Sciences and Arts, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, China
- Key Laboratory of Language and Cognitive Neuroscience of Jiangsu Province, Collaborative Innovation Center for Language Ability, Xuzhou, China
| | - Xinyu Zhao
- School of Linguistic Sciences and Arts, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, China
- Key Laboratory of Language and Cognitive Neuroscience of Jiangsu Province, Collaborative Innovation Center for Language Ability, Xuzhou, China
| | - Yichan Wang
- School of Linguistic Sciences and Arts, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, China
- Key Laboratory of Language and Cognitive Neuroscience of Jiangsu Province, Collaborative Innovation Center for Language Ability, Xuzhou, China
| | - Na Hu
- School of Preschool and Special Education, Kunming University, Yunnan, China
| | - Yiming Yang
- School of Linguistic Sciences and Arts, Jiangsu Normal University, Xuzhou, China
- Key Laboratory of Language and Cognitive Neuroscience of Jiangsu Province, Collaborative Innovation Center for Language Ability, Xuzhou, China
| | - Xueping Hu
- College of Education, Huaibei Normal University, Huaibei, China
- Anhui Engineering Research Center for Intelligent Computing and Application on Cognitive Behavior (ICACB), Huaibei, China
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4
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Ferrari C, Arioli M, Atias D, Merabet LB, Cattaneo Z. Perception and discrimination of real-life emotional vocalizations in early blind individuals. Front Psychol 2024; 15:1386676. [PMID: 38784630 PMCID: PMC11112099 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1386676] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2024] [Accepted: 04/16/2024] [Indexed: 05/25/2024] Open
Abstract
Introduction The capacity to understand others' emotions and react accordingly is a key social ability. However, it may be compromised in case of a profound sensory loss that limits the contribution of available contextual cues (e.g., facial expression, gestures, body posture) to interpret emotions expressed by others. In this study, we specifically investigated whether early blindness affects the capacity to interpret emotional vocalizations, whose valence may be difficult to recognize without a meaningful context. Methods We asked a group of early blind (N = 22) and sighted controls (N = 22) to evaluate the valence and the intensity of spontaneous fearful and joyful non-verbal vocalizations. Results Our data showed that emotional vocalizations presented alone (i.e., with no contextual information) are similarly ambiguous for blind and sighted individuals but are perceived as more intense by the former possibly reflecting their higher saliency when visual experience is unavailable. Disussion Our study contributes to a better understanding of how sensory experience shapes ememotion recognition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Ferrari
- Department of Humanities, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
- IRCCS Mondino Foundation, Pavia, Italy
| | - Maria Arioli
- Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy
| | - Doron Atias
- Department of Psychology, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
| | - Lotfi B. Merabet
- The Laboratory for Visual Neuroplasticity, Department of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Zaira Cattaneo
- Department of Human and Social Sciences, University of Bergamo, Bergamo, Italy
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5
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Jendrichovsky P, Lee HK, Kanold PO. Dark exposure reduces high-frequency hearing loss in C57BL/6J mice. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.05.02.592252. [PMID: 38746420 PMCID: PMC11092591 DOI: 10.1101/2024.05.02.592252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/16/2024]
Abstract
Plastic changes in the brain are primarily limited to early postnatal periods. Recovery of adult brain plasticity is critical for the effective development of therapies. A brief (1-2 week) duration of visual deprivation (dark exposure, DE) in adult mice can trigger functional plasticity of thalamocortical and intracortical circuits in the primary auditory cortex suggesting improved sound processing. We tested if DE enhances the ability of adult mice to detect sounds. We trained and continuously evaluated the behavioral performance of mice in control and DE conditions using automated home-cage training. Consistent with age-related peripheral hearing loss present in C57BL/6J mice, we observed decreased performance for high-frequency sounds with age, which was reduced by DE. In CBA mice with preserved peripheral hearing, we also found that DE enhanced auditory performance in low and mid frequencies over time compared to the control.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Jendrichovsky
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, USA
| | - Hey-Kyoung Lee
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, USA
- Kavli NDI, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, USA
- Zanvyl-Krieger Mind/Brain Institute, Johns Hopkins University; Baltimore, USA
| | - Patrick O. Kanold
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, USA
- Kavli NDI, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; Baltimore, USA
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6
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Marins TF, Russo M, Rodrigues EC, Monteiro M, Moll J, Felix D, Bouzas J, Arcanjo H, Vargas CD, Tovar‐Moll F. Reorganization of thalamocortical connections in congenitally blind humans. Hum Brain Mapp 2023; 44:2039-2049. [PMID: 36661404 PMCID: PMC9980890 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26192] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2022] [Revised: 11/14/2022] [Accepted: 11/24/2022] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Cross-modal plasticity in blind individuals has been reported over the past decades showing that nonvisual information is carried and processed by "visual" brain structures. However, despite multiple efforts, the structural underpinnings of cross-modal plasticity in congenitally blind individuals remain unclear. We mapped thalamocortical connectivity and assessed the integrity of white matter of 10 congenitally blind individuals and 10 sighted controls. We hypothesized an aberrant thalamocortical pattern of connectivity taking place in the absence of visual stimuli from birth as a potential mechanism of cross-modal plasticity. In addition to the impaired microstructure of visual white matter bundles, we observed structural connectivity changes between the thalamus and occipital and temporal cortices. Specifically, the thalamic territory dedicated to connections with the occipital cortex was smaller and displayed weaker connectivity in congenitally blind individuals, whereas those connecting with the temporal cortex showed greater volume and increased connectivity. The abnormal pattern of thalamocortical connectivity included the lateral and medial geniculate nuclei and the pulvinar nucleus. For the first time in humans, a remapping of structural thalamocortical connections involving both unimodal and multimodal thalamic nuclei has been demonstrated, shedding light on the possible mechanisms of cross-modal plasticity in humans. The present findings may help understand the functional adaptations commonly observed in congenitally blind individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Theo F. Marins
- D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR)Rio de JaneiroBrazil,Post‐Graduation Program in Morphological Sciences (PCM) of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICB)Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)Rio de JaneiroBrazil
| | - Maite Russo
- Institute of Biophysics Carlos Chagas Filho (IBCCF)Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)Rio de JaneiroBrazil
| | | | - Marina Monteiro
- D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR)Rio de JaneiroBrazil
| | - Jorge Moll
- D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR)Rio de JaneiroBrazil
| | - Daniel Felix
- D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR)Rio de JaneiroBrazil
| | - Julia Bouzas
- D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR)Rio de JaneiroBrazil
| | - Helena Arcanjo
- Centro de Oftalmologia EspecializadaRio de JaneiroBrazil
| | - Claudia D. Vargas
- Institute of Biophysics Carlos Chagas Filho (IBCCF)Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)Rio de JaneiroBrazil
| | - Fernanda Tovar‐Moll
- D'Or Institute for Research and Education (IDOR)Rio de JaneiroBrazil,Post‐Graduation Program in Morphological Sciences (PCM) of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences (ICB)Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ)Rio de JaneiroBrazil
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7
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Sun Y, Ming L, Sun J, Guo F, Li Q, Hu X. Brain mechanism of unfamiliar and familiar voice processing: an activation likelihood estimation meta-analysis. PeerJ 2023; 11:e14976. [PMID: 36935917 PMCID: PMC10019337 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14976] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2022] [Accepted: 02/08/2023] [Indexed: 03/14/2023] Open
Abstract
Interpersonal communication through vocal information is very important for human society. During verbal interactions, our vocal cord vibrations convey important information regarding voice identity, which allows us to decide how to respond to speakers (e.g., neither greeting a stranger too warmly or speaking too coldly to a friend). Numerous neural studies have shown that identifying familiar and unfamiliar voices may rely on different neural bases. However, the mechanism underlying voice identification of individuals of varying familiarity has not been determined due to vague definitions, confusion of terms, and differences in task design. To address this issue, the present study first categorized three kinds of voice identity processing (perception, recognition and identification) from speakers with different degrees of familiarity. We defined voice identity perception as passively listening to a voice or determining if the voice was human, voice identity recognition as determining if the sound heard was acoustically familiar, and voice identity identification as ascertaining whether a voice is associated with a name or face. Of these, voice identity perception involves processing unfamiliar voices, and voice identity recognition and identification involves processing familiar voices. According to these three definitions, we performed activation likelihood estimation (ALE) on 32 studies and revealed different brain mechanisms underlying processing of unfamiliar and familiar voice identities. The results were as follows: (1) familiar voice recognition/identification was supported by a network involving most regions in the temporal lobe, some regions in the frontal lobe, subcortical structures and regions around the marginal lobes; (2) the bilateral superior temporal gyrus was recruited for voice identity perception of an unfamiliar voice; (3) voice identity recognition/identification of familiar voices was more likely to activate the right frontal lobe than voice identity perception of unfamiliar voices, while voice identity perception of an unfamiliar voice was more likely to activate the bilateral temporal lobe and left frontal lobe; and (4) the bilateral superior temporal gyrus served as a shared neural basis of unfamiliar voice identity perception and familiar voice identity recognition/identification. In general, the results of the current study address gaps in the literature, provide clear definitions of concepts, and indicate brain mechanisms for subsequent investigations.
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8
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Klauke S, Sondocie C, Fine I. The impact of low vision on social function: The potential importance of lost visual social cues. JOURNAL OF OPTOMETRY 2023; 16:3-11. [PMID: 35568628 PMCID: PMC9811370 DOI: 10.1016/j.optom.2022.03.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2021] [Revised: 01/09/2022] [Accepted: 03/06/2022] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Visual cues usually play a vital role in social interaction. As well as being the primary cue for identifying other people, visual cues also provide crucial non-verbal social information via both facial expressions and body language. One consequence of vision loss is the need to rely on non-visual cues during social interaction. Although verbal cues can carry a significant amount of information, this information is often not available to an untrained listener. Here, we review the current literature examining potential ways that the loss of social information due to vision loss might impact social functioning. A large number of studies suggest that low vision and blindness is a risk factor for anxiety and depression. This relationship has been attributed to multiple factors, including anxiety about disease progression, and impairments to quality of life that include difficulties reading, and a lack of access to work and social activities. However, our review suggests a potential additional contributing factor to reduced quality of life that has been hitherto overlooked: blindness may make it more difficult to effectively engage in social interactions, due to a loss of visual information. The current literature suggests it might be worth considering training in voice discrimination and/or recognition when carrying out rehabilitative training in late blind individuals.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Chloe Sondocie
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, USA
| | - Ione Fine
- Department of Psychology, University of Washington, Seattle, USA.
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9
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Musz E, Loiotile R, Chen J, Cusack R, Bedny M. Naturalistic stimuli reveal a sensitive period in cross modal responses of visual cortex: Evidence from adult-onset blindness. Neuropsychologia 2022; 172:108277. [PMID: 35636634 PMCID: PMC9648859 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108277] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/14/2021] [Revised: 04/28/2022] [Accepted: 05/25/2022] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
How do life experiences impact cortical function? In people who are born blind, the "visual" cortices are recruited during nonvisual tasks, such as Braille reading and sound localization. Do visual cortices have a latent capacity to respond to nonvisual information throughout the lifespan? Alternatively, is there a sensitive period of heightened plasticity that makes visual cortex repurposing especially possible during childhood? To gain insight into these questions, we leveraged meaningful naturalistic auditory stimuli to simultaneously engage a broad range of cognitive domains and quantify cross-modal responses across congenitally blind (n = 22), adult-onset blind (vision loss >18 years-of-age, n = 14) and sighted (n = 22) individuals. During fMRI scanning, participants listened to two types of meaningful naturalistic auditory stimuli: excerpts from movies and a spoken narrative. As controls, participants heard the same narrative with the sentences shuffled and the narrative played backwards (i.e., meaningless sounds). We correlated the voxel-wise timecourses of different participants within condition and group. For all groups, all stimulus conditions induced synchrony in auditory cortex while only the narrative stimuli synchronized responses in higher-cognitive fronto-parietal and temporal regions. As previously reported, inter-subject synchrony in visual cortices was higher in congenitally blind than sighted blindfolded participants and this between-group difference was particularly pronounced for meaningful stimuli (movies and narrative). Critically, visual cortex synchrony was no higher in adult-onset blind than sighted blindfolded participants and did not increase with blindness duration. Sensitive period plasticity enables cross-modal repurposing in visual cortices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elizabeth Musz
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| | - Rita Loiotile
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Janice Chen
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Rhodri Cusack
- Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience, School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Marina Bedny
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
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10
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Maguinness C, von Kriegstein K. Visual mechanisms for voice-identity recognition flexibly adjust to auditory noise level. Hum Brain Mapp 2021; 42:3963-3982. [PMID: 34043249 PMCID: PMC8288083 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25532] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/11/2021] [Revised: 04/26/2021] [Accepted: 05/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Recognising the identity of voices is a key ingredient of communication. Visual mechanisms support this ability: recognition is better for voices previously learned with their corresponding face (compared to a control condition). This so‐called ‘face‐benefit’ is supported by the fusiform face area (FFA), a region sensitive to facial form and identity. Behavioural findings indicate that the face‐benefit increases in noisy listening conditions. The neural mechanisms for this increase are unknown. Here, using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we examined responses in face‐sensitive regions while participants recognised the identity of auditory‐only speakers (previously learned by face) in high (SNR −4 dB) and low (SNR +4 dB) levels of auditory noise. We observed a face‐benefit in both noise levels, for most participants (16 of 21). In high‐noise, the recognition of face‐learned speakers engaged the right posterior superior temporal sulcus motion‐sensitive face area (pSTS‐mFA), a region implicated in the processing of dynamic facial cues. The face‐benefit in high‐noise also correlated positively with increased functional connectivity between this region and voice‐sensitive regions in the temporal lobe in the group of 16 participants with a behavioural face‐benefit. In low‐noise, the face‐benefit was robustly associated with increased responses in the FFA and to a lesser extent the right pSTS‐mFA. The findings highlight the remarkably adaptive nature of the visual network supporting voice‐identity recognition in auditory‐only listening conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Corrina Maguinness
- Chair of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.,Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Katharina von Kriegstein
- Chair of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.,Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
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11
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Abbasi B, Rizzo JF. Advances in Neuroscience, Not Devices, Will Determine the Effectiveness of Visual Prostheses. Semin Ophthalmol 2021; 36:168-175. [PMID: 33734937 DOI: 10.1080/08820538.2021.1887902] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Background: Innovations in engineering and neuroscience have enabled the development of sophisticated visual prosthetic devices. In clinical trials, these devices have provided visual acuities as high as 20/460, enabled coarse navigation, and even allowed for reading of short words. However, long-term commercial viability arguably rests on attaining even better vision and more definitive improvements in tasks of daily living and quality of life. Purpose: Here we review technological and biological obstacles in the implementation of visual prosthetics. Conclusions: Research in the visual prosthetic field has tackled significant technical challenges, including biocompatibility, signal spread through neural tissue, and inadvertent activation of passing axons; however, significant gaps in knowledge remain in the realm of neuroscience, including the neural code of vision and visual plasticity. We assert that further optimization of prosthetic devices alone will not provide markedly improved visual outcomes without significant advances in our understanding of neuroscience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bardia Abbasi
- Neuro-Ophthalmology Service, Department of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Joseph F Rizzo
- Neuro-Ophthalmology Service, Department of Ophthalmology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
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12
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Röder B, Kekunnaya R, Guerreiro MJS. Neural mechanisms of visual sensitive periods in humans. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 120:86-99. [PMID: 33242562 DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.10.030] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/02/2020] [Accepted: 10/08/2020] [Indexed: 01/18/2023]
Abstract
Sensitive periods in brain development are phases of enhanced susceptibility to experience. Here we discuss research from human and non-human neuroscience studies which have demonstrated a) differences in the way infants vs. adults learn; b) how the brain adapts to atypical conditions, in particular a congenital vs. a late onset blindness (sensitive periods for atypical brain development); and c) the extent to which neural systems are capable of acquiring a typical brain organization after sight restoration following a congenital vs. late phase of pattern vision deprivation (sensitive periods for typical brain development). By integrating these three lines of research, we propose neural mechanisms characteristic of sensitive periods vs. adult neuroplasticity and learning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brigitte Röder
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Germany.
| | - Ramesh Kekunnaya
- Jasti V Ramanamma Children's Eye Care Center, LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India
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13
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Ratan Murty NA, Teng S, Beeler D, Mynick A, Oliva A, Kanwisher N. Visual experience is not necessary for the development of face-selectivity in the lateral fusiform gyrus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2020; 117:23011-23020. [PMID: 32839334 PMCID: PMC7502773 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2004607117] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The fusiform face area responds selectively to faces and is causally involved in face perception. How does face-selectivity in the fusiform arise in development, and why does it develop so systematically in the same location across individuals? Preferential cortical responses to faces develop early in infancy, yet evidence is conflicting on the central question of whether visual experience with faces is necessary. Here, we revisit this question by scanning congenitally blind individuals with fMRI while they haptically explored 3D-printed faces and other stimuli. We found robust face-selective responses in the lateral fusiform gyrus of individual blind participants during haptic exploration of stimuli, indicating that neither visual experience with faces nor fovea-biased inputs is necessary for face-selectivity to arise in the lateral fusiform gyrus. Our results instead suggest a role for long-range connectivity in specifying the location of face-selectivity in the human brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- N Apurva Ratan Murty
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
- The Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
| | - Santani Teng
- The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute, San Francisco, CA 94115
- Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
| | - David Beeler
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
| | - Anna Mynick
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
| | - Aude Oliva
- Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
| | - Nancy Kanwisher
- Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139;
- McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
- The Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139
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14
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El-Bendary MAM, Kasban H, Haggag A, El-Tokhy MAR. Investigating of nodes and personal authentications utilizing multimodal biometrics for medical application of WBANs security. MULTIMEDIA TOOLS AND APPLICATIONS 2020; 79:24507-24535. [DOI: 10.1007/s11042-020-08926-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2019] [Revised: 02/07/2020] [Accepted: 04/07/2020] [Indexed: 05/17/2025]
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15
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Topalidis P, Zinchenko A, Gädeke JC, Föcker J. The role of spatial selective attention in the processing of affective prosodies in congenitally blind adults: An ERP study. Brain Res 2020; 1739:146819. [PMID: 32251662 DOI: 10.1016/j.brainres.2020.146819] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2019] [Revised: 03/25/2020] [Accepted: 04/02/2020] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Abstract
The question whether spatial selective attention is necessary in order to process vocal affective prosody has been controversially discussed in sighted individuals: whereas some studies argue that attention is required in order to process emotions, other studies conclude that vocal prosody can be processed even outside the focus of spatial selective attention. Here, we asked whether spatial selective attention is necessary for the processing of affective prosodies after visual deprivation from birth. For this purpose, pseudowords spoken in happy, neutral, fearful or threatening prosodies were presented at the left or right loudspeaker. Congenitally blind individuals (N = 8) and sighted controls (N = 13) had to attend to one of the loudspeakers and detect rare pseudowords presented at the attended loudspeaker during EEG recording. Emotional prosody of the syllables was task-irrelevant. Blind individuals outperformed sighted controls by being more efficient in detecting deviant syllables at the attended loudspeaker. A higher auditory N1 amplitude was observed in blind individuals compared to sighted controls. Additionally, sighted controls showed enhanced attention-related ERP amplitudes in response to fearful and threatening voices during the time range of the N1. By contrast, blind individuals revealed enhanced ERP amplitudes in attended relative to unattended locations irrespective of the affective valence in all time windows (110-350 ms). These effects were mainly observed at posterior electrodes. The results provide evidence for "emotion-general" auditory spatial selective attention effects in congenitally blind individuals and suggest a potential reorganization of the voice processing brain system following visual deprivation from birth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pavlos Topalidis
- Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany
| | - Artyom Zinchenko
- Department of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Ludwig Maximilian University, Munich, Germany
| | - Julia C Gädeke
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Germany
| | - Julia Föcker
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Germany; University of Lincoln, School of Social Sciences, United Kingdom.
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16
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Castaldi E, Lunghi C, Morrone MC. Neuroplasticity in adult human visual cortex. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2020; 112:542-552. [DOI: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.02.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 72] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2019] [Revised: 12/30/2019] [Accepted: 02/20/2020] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
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17
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Chen Y, Zhu G, Liu D, Liu Y, Yuan T, Zhang X, Jiang Y, Du T, Zhang J. Brain morphological changes in hypokinetic dysarthria of Parkinson's disease and use of machine learning to predict severity. CNS Neurosci Ther 2020; 26:711-719. [PMID: 32198848 PMCID: PMC7298984 DOI: 10.1111/cns.13304] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/04/2019] [Revised: 02/13/2020] [Accepted: 03/01/2020] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Up to 90% of patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) eventually develop the speech and voice disorder referred to as hypokinetic dysarthria (HD). However, the brain morphological changes associated with HD have not been investigated. Moreover, no reliable model for predicting the severity of HD based on neuroimaging has yet been developed. Methods A total of 134 PD patients were included in this study and divided into a training set and a test set. All participants underwent a structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan and neuropsychological evaluation. Individual cortical thickness, subcortical structure, and white matter volume were extracted, and their association with HD severity was analyzed. After feature selection, a machine‐learning model was established using a support vector machine in the training set. The severity of HD was then predicted in the test set. Results Atrophy of the right precentral cortex and the right fusiform gyrus was significantly associated with HD. No association was found between HD and volume of white matter or subcortical structures. Favorable and optimal performance of machine learning on HD severity prediction was achieved using feature selection, giving a correlation coefficient (r) of .7516 and a coefficient of determination (R2) of .5649 (P < .001). Conclusion The brain morphological changes were associated with HD. Excellent prediction of the severity of HD was achieved using machine learning based on neuroimaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yingchuan Chen
- Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Guanyu Zhu
- Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Defeng Liu
- Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Yuye Liu
- Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Tianshuo Yuan
- Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Xin Zhang
- Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Beijing Neurosurgical Institute, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Yin Jiang
- Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Beijing Neurosurgical Institute, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Tingting Du
- Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Beijing Neurosurgical Institute, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
| | - Jianguo Zhang
- Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.,Department of Functional Neurosurgery, Beijing Neurosurgical Institute, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.,Beijing Key Laboratory of Neurostimulation, Beijing, China
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18
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de Borst AW, de Gelder B. Mental Imagery Follows Similar Cortical Reorganization as Perception: Intra-Modal and Cross-Modal Plasticity in Congenitally Blind. Cereb Cortex 2018; 29:2859-2875. [DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhy151] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2018] [Revised: 05/27/2018] [Accepted: 06/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Cortical plasticity in congenitally blind individuals leads to cross-modal activation of the visual cortex and may lead to superior perceptual processing in the intact sensory domains. Although mental imagery is often defined as a quasi-perceptual experience, it is unknown whether it follows similar cortical reorganization as perception in blind individuals. In this study, we show that auditory versus tactile perception evokes similar intra-modal discriminative patterns in congenitally blind compared with sighted participants. These results indicate that cortical plasticity following visual deprivation does not influence broad intra-modal organization of auditory and tactile perception as measured by our task. Furthermore, not only the blind, but also the sighted participants showed cross-modal discriminative patterns for perception modality in the visual cortex. During mental imagery, both groups showed similar decoding accuracies for imagery modality in the intra-modal primary sensory cortices. However, no cross-modal discriminative information for imagery modality was found in early visual cortex of blind participants, in contrast to the sighted participants. We did find evidence of cross-modal activation of higher visual areas in blind participants, including the representation of specific-imagined auditory features in visual area V4.
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Affiliation(s)
- A W de Borst
- Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, UK
- Brain and Emotion Lab, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - B de Gelder
- Department of Computer Science, University College London, London, UK
- Brain and Emotion Lab, Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
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19
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Fairhall SL, Porter KB, Bellucci C, Mazzetti M, Cipolli C, Gobbini MI. Plastic reorganization of neural systems for perception of others in the congenitally blind. Neuroimage 2017; 158:126-135. [PMID: 28669909 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.06.057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2016] [Revised: 05/25/2017] [Accepted: 06/22/2017] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent evidence suggests that the function of the core system for face perception might extend beyond visual face-perception to a broader role in person perception. To critically test the broader role of core face-system in person perception, we examined the role of the core system during the perception of others in 7 congenitally blind individuals and 15 sighted subjects by measuring their neural responses using fMRI while they listened to voices and performed identity and emotion recognition tasks. We hypothesised that in people who have had no visual experience of faces, core face-system areas may assume a role in the perception of others via voices. Results showed that emotions conveyed by voices can be decoded in homologues of the core face system only in the blind. Moreover, there was a specific enhancement of response to verbal as compared to non-verbal stimuli in bilateral fusiform face areas and the right posterior superior temporal sulcus showing that the core system also assumes some language-related functions in the blind. These results indicate that, in individuals with no history of visual experience, areas of the core system for face perception may assume a role in aspects of voice perception that are relevant to social cognition and perception of others' emotions.
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Affiliation(s)
- S L Fairhall
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Italy.
| | - K B Porter
- Department of Psychology, Harvard, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - C Bellucci
- Dipartimento di Medicina Specialistica, Diagnostica e Sperimentale (DIMES), Medical School, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - M Mazzetti
- Dipartimento di Medicina Specialistica, Diagnostica e Sperimentale (DIMES), Medical School, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - C Cipolli
- Dipartimento di Medicina Specialistica, Diagnostica e Sperimentale (DIMES), Medical School, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy
| | - M I Gobbini
- Dipartimento di Medicina Specialistica, Diagnostica e Sperimentale (DIMES), Medical School, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy; Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA.
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20
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Brain circuit-gene expression relationships and neuroplasticity of multisensory cortices in blind children. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2017; 114:6830-6835. [PMID: 28607055 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1619121114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Sensory deprivation reorganizes neurocircuits in the human brain. The biological basis of such neuroplastic adaptations remains elusive. In this study, we applied two complementary graph theory-based functional connectivity analyses, one to evaluate whole-brain functional connectivity relationships and the second to specifically delineate distributed network connectivity profiles downstream of primary sensory cortices, to investigate neural reorganization in blind children compared with sighted controls. We also examined the relationship between connectivity changes and neuroplasticity-related gene expression profiles in the cerebral cortex. We observed that multisensory integration areas exhibited enhanced functional connectivity in blind children and that this reorganization was spatially associated with the transcription levels of specific members of the cAMP Response Element Binding protein gene family. Using systems-level analyses, this study advances our understanding of human neuroplasticity and its genetic underpinnings following sensory deprivation.
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21
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Maguinness C, von Kriegstein K. Cross-modal processing of voices and faces in developmental prosopagnosia and developmental phonagnosia. VISUAL COGNITION 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/13506285.2017.1313347] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Corrina Maguinness
- Max Planck Research Group Neural Mechanisms of Human Communication, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Katharina von Kriegstein
- Max Planck Research Group Neural Mechanisms of Human Communication, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Psychology, Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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22
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Pelland M, Orban P, Dansereau C, Lepore F, Bellec P, Collignon O. State-dependent modulation of functional connectivity in early blind individuals. Neuroimage 2016; 147:532-541. [PMID: 28011254 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.12.053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/06/2016] [Revised: 10/13/2016] [Accepted: 12/18/2016] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) studies have provided strong evidences that visual deprivation influences the brain's functional architecture. In particular, reduced RSFC coupling between occipital (visual) and temporal (auditory) regions has been reliably observed in early blind individuals (EB) at rest. In contrast, task-dependent activation studies have repeatedly demonstrated enhanced co-activation and connectivity of occipital and temporal regions during auditory processing in EB. To investigate this apparent discrepancy, the functional coupling between temporal and occipital networks at rest was directly compared to that of an auditory task in both EB and sighted controls (SC). Functional brain clusters shared across groups and cognitive states (rest and auditory task) were defined. In EBs, we observed higher occipito-temporal correlations in activity during the task than at rest. The reverse pattern was observed in SC. We also observed higher temporal variability of occipito-temporal RSFC in EB suggesting that occipital regions in this population may play the role of a multiple demand system. Our study reveals how the connectivity profile of sighted and early blind people is differentially influenced by their cognitive state, bridging the gap between previous task-dependent and RSFC studies. Our results also highlight how inferring group-differences in functional brain architecture solely based on resting-state acquisition has to be considered with caution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxime Pelland
- Departement of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Centre de Recherche en Neuropsychologie et Cognition, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada.
| | - Pierre Orban
- Functional Neuroimaging Unit, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Psychiatry, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Christian Dansereau
- Functional Neuroimaging Unit, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Computer Science and Operations Research, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Franco Lepore
- Departement of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Centre de Recherche en Neuropsychologie et Cognition, University of Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Pierre Bellec
- Functional Neuroimaging Unit, Centre de Recherche de l'Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Department of Computer Science and Operations Research, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Olivier Collignon
- Institute of Psychology (IPSY) and Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium; CIMeC - Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, via delle Regole 101, Mattarello, TN, Italy.
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23
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Barone P, Chambaudie L, Strelnikov K, Fraysse B, Marx M, Belin P, Deguine O. Crossmodal interactions during non-linguistic auditory processing in cochlear-implanted deaf patients. Cortex 2016; 83:259-70. [PMID: 27622640 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2016.08.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2016] [Revised: 05/17/2016] [Accepted: 08/15/2016] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Due to signal distortion, speech comprehension in cochlear-implanted (CI) patients relies strongly on visual information, a compensatory strategy supported by important cortical crossmodal reorganisations. Though crossmodal interactions are evident for speech processing, it is unclear whether a visual influence is observed in CI patients during non-linguistic visual-auditory processing, such as face-voice interactions, which are important in social communication. We analyse and compare visual-auditory interactions in CI patients and normal-hearing subjects (NHS) at equivalent auditory performance levels. Proficient CI patients and NHS performed a voice-gender categorisation in the visual-auditory modality from a morphing-generated voice continuum between male and female speakers, while ignoring the presentation of a male or female visual face. Our data show that during the face-voice interaction, CI deaf patients are strongly influenced by visual information when performing an auditory gender categorisation task, in spite of maximum recovery of auditory speech. No such effect is observed in NHS, even in situations of CI simulation. Our hypothesis is that the functional crossmodal reorganisation that occurs in deafness could influence nonverbal processing, such as face-voice interaction; this is important for patient internal supramodal representation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pascal Barone
- Université Toulouse, CerCo, Université Paul Sabatier, France; CNRS, UMR 5549, Toulouse, France.
| | - Laure Chambaudie
- Université Toulouse, CerCo, Université Paul Sabatier, France; CNRS, UMR 5549, Toulouse, France
| | - Kuzma Strelnikov
- Université Toulouse, CerCo, Université Paul Sabatier, France; CNRS, UMR 5549, Toulouse, France
| | - Bernard Fraysse
- Service Oto-Rhino-Laryngologie et Oto-Neurologie, Hopital Purpan, Toulouse, France
| | - Mathieu Marx
- Service Oto-Rhino-Laryngologie et Oto-Neurologie, Hopital Purpan, Toulouse, France
| | - Pascal Belin
- Voice Neurocognition Laboratory, Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK; Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, CNRS UMR 7289 et Aix-Marseille Université, Marseille, France
| | - Olivier Deguine
- Université Toulouse, CerCo, Université Paul Sabatier, France; CNRS, UMR 5549, Toulouse, France; Service Oto-Rhino-Laryngologie et Oto-Neurologie, Hopital Purpan, Toulouse, France
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Abstract
UNLABELLED Transient congenital visual deprivation affects visual and multisensory processing. In contrast, the extent to which it affects auditory processing has not been investigated systematically. Research in permanently blind individuals has revealed brain reorganization during auditory processing, involving both intramodal and crossmodal plasticity. The present study investigated the effect of transient congenital visual deprivation on the neural bases of auditory processing in humans. Cataract-reversal individuals and normally sighted controls performed a speech-in-noise task while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Although there were no behavioral group differences, groups differed in auditory cortical responses: in the normally sighted group, auditory cortex activation increased with increasing noise level, whereas in the cataract-reversal group, no activation difference was observed across noise levels. An auditory activation of visual cortex was not observed at the group level in cataract-reversal individuals. The present data suggest prevailing auditory processing advantages after transient congenital visual deprivation, even many years after sight restoration. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The present study demonstrates that people whose sight was restored after a transient period of congenital blindness show more efficient cortical processing of auditory stimuli (here speech), similarly to what has been observed in congenitally permanently blind individuals. These results underscore the importance of early sensory experience in permanently shaping brain function.
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