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Whole brain functional connectivity in the early blind
- Y. Liu, C. Yu, M. Liang, J. Li, L. Tian, Y. Zhou, W. Qin, K. Li, T. Jiang,
- Original article citation: Brain 130," 2085 - 2096, (2007).
- Categories: Neuroscience
- Recommended by: Yong HE on 04/07/2008 09:45AM GMT
- Reasons for recommending:
Recent research has demonstrated that visual deprivation in early life is accompanied by structural and functional alterations of the brain, which could be explained by either of two hypotheses. The general-loss hypothesis might explain for maladaptive changes, while the compensatory-plasticity hypothesis might explain for enhanced ability to use remaining senses. So far, task-based fMRI studies have provided support for the compensatory-plasticity hypothesis, but these studies did not provide evidence supporting the general-loss hypothesis since the blind people cannot carry out visual tasks. Liu et al. employed resting-state fMRI to investigate the changes in functional connectivity of spontaneous brain activities in early blind subjects. They found that, compared with controls, the blind demonstrated decreased functional connectivities within the occipital visual cortices as well as between the occipital visual cortices and the parietal somatosensory, frontal motor and temporal multisensory cortices. The authors interpret these differences as supporting the general-loss hypothesis. In addition, they also found that the introduction of Braille earlier in life or with longer daily practice sessions was associated with stronger functional connectivities between these brain areas, which might support the compensatory-plasticity hypothesis. Finally, the authors also report increased functional connectivities between occipital cortices and frontal cortices in subjects with early onset of blindness as compared to the controls, which they again interpret as evidence for the compensatory plasticity. This study indicates that the changes in the functional connectivities in the resting state may be an integrated reflection of general loss and compensatory plasticity when a single sensory modality is deprived.
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