RT Journal Article
T1 Recruitment of occipital cortex during sensory substitution training linked to subjective experience of seeing in people with blindness
A1 Ortiz, Tomás
A1 Poch, Joaquín
A1 Santos, Juan M.
A1 Requena, Carmen
A1 Martínez, Ana M.
A1 Ortiz Terán, Laura
A1 Turrero, Agustín
A1 Barcia, Juan
A1 Nogales, Ramón
A1 Calvo, Agustín
A1 Martínez, José M.
A1 Córdoba, José L.
A1 Pascual Leone, Álvaro
AB Over three months of intensive training with a tactile stimulation device, 18 blind and 10 blindfolded seeing subjects improved in their ability to identify geometric figures by touch. Seven blind subjects spontaneously reported 'visual qualia', the subjective sensation of seeing flashes of light congruent with tactile stimuli. In the latter subjects tactile stimulation evoked activation of occipital cortex on electroencephalography (EEG). None of the blind subjects who failed to experience visual qualia, despite identical tactile stimulation training, showed EEG recruitment of occipital cortex. None of the blindfolded seeing humans reported visual-like sensations during tactile stimulation. These findings support the notion that the conscious experience of seeing is linked to the activation of occipital brain regions in people with blindness. Moreover, the findings indicate that provision of visual information can be achieved through non-visual sensory modalities which may help to minimize the disability of blind individuals, affording them some degree of object recognition and navigation aid.
PB PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
SN 1932-6203
YR 2011
FD 2011
LK https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/44636
UL https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/44636
LA eng
NO Fundacio´n Esther Koplowitz
NO d Instituto Madrileño de Desarrollo (IMADE)/Madrid Regional Government (Spain)
DS Docta Complutense
RD 2 may 2024