A sensitive period for language in the visual cortex: Distinct patterns of plasticity in congenitally versus late blind adults
Recent evidence suggests that blindness enables visual circuits to contribute to language processing. We examined whether this dramatic functional plasticity has a sensitive period. BOLD fMRI signal was measured in congenitally blind, late blind (blindness onset 9-years-old or later) and sighted par...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2016
|
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/102277 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2377-1791 |
| _version_ | 1826190900266532864 |
|---|---|
| author | Bedny, Marina Pascual-Leone, Alvaro Dravida, Swethasri Saxe, Rebecca R. |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Bedny, Marina Pascual-Leone, Alvaro Dravida, Swethasri Saxe, Rebecca R. |
| author_sort | Bedny, Marina |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Recent evidence suggests that blindness enables visual circuits to contribute to language processing. We examined whether this dramatic functional plasticity has a sensitive period. BOLD fMRI signal was measured in congenitally blind, late blind (blindness onset 9-years-old or later) and sighted participants while they performed a sentence comprehension task. In a control condition, participants listened to backwards speech and made match/non-match to sample judgments. In both congenitally and late blind participants BOLD signal increased in bilateral foveal-pericalcarine cortex during response preparation, irrespective of whether the stimulus was a sentence or backwards speech. However, left occipital areas (pericalcarine, extrastriate, fusiform and lateral) responded more to sentences than backwards speech only in congenitally blind people. We conclude that age of blindness onset constrains the non-visual functions of occipital cortex: while plasticity is present in both congenitally and late blind individuals, recruitment of visual circuits for language depends on blindness during childhood. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:47:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/102277 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T08:47:21Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1022772022-09-30T11:16:36Z A sensitive period for language in the visual cortex: Distinct patterns of plasticity in congenitally versus late blind adults Bedny, Marina Pascual-Leone, Alvaro Dravida, Swethasri Saxe, Rebecca R. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences Bedny, Marina Dravida, Swethasri Saxe, Rebecca R. Recent evidence suggests that blindness enables visual circuits to contribute to language processing. We examined whether this dramatic functional plasticity has a sensitive period. BOLD fMRI signal was measured in congenitally blind, late blind (blindness onset 9-years-old or later) and sighted participants while they performed a sentence comprehension task. In a control condition, participants listened to backwards speech and made match/non-match to sample judgments. In both congenitally and late blind participants BOLD signal increased in bilateral foveal-pericalcarine cortex during response preparation, irrespective of whether the stimulus was a sentence or backwards speech. However, left occipital areas (pericalcarine, extrastriate, fusiform and lateral) responded more to sentences than backwards speech only in congenitally blind people. We conclude that age of blindness onset constrains the non-visual functions of occipital cortex: while plasticity is present in both congenitally and late blind individuals, recruitment of visual circuits for language depends on blindness during childhood. David & Lucile Packard Foundation 2016-04-20T17:10:58Z 2016-04-20T17:10:58Z 2011-12 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0093934X http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/102277 Bedny, Marina, Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Swethasri Dravida, and Rebecca Saxe. “A Sensitive Period for Language in the Visual Cortex: Distinct Patterns of Plasticity in Congenitally Versus Late Blind Adults.” Brain and Language 122, no. 3 (September 2012): 162–170. https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2377-1791 en_US http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2011.10.005 Brain and Language Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-NoDerivatives http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ application/pdf Elsevier PMC |
| spellingShingle | Bedny, Marina Pascual-Leone, Alvaro Dravida, Swethasri Saxe, Rebecca R. A sensitive period for language in the visual cortex: Distinct patterns of plasticity in congenitally versus late blind adults |
| title | A sensitive period for language in the visual cortex: Distinct patterns of plasticity in congenitally versus late blind adults |
| title_full | A sensitive period for language in the visual cortex: Distinct patterns of plasticity in congenitally versus late blind adults |
| title_fullStr | A sensitive period for language in the visual cortex: Distinct patterns of plasticity in congenitally versus late blind adults |
| title_full_unstemmed | A sensitive period for language in the visual cortex: Distinct patterns of plasticity in congenitally versus late blind adults |
| title_short | A sensitive period for language in the visual cortex: Distinct patterns of plasticity in congenitally versus late blind adults |
| title_sort | sensitive period for language in the visual cortex distinct patterns of plasticity in congenitally versus late blind adults |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/102277 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2377-1791 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT bednymarina asensitiveperiodforlanguageinthevisualcortexdistinctpatternsofplasticityincongenitallyversuslateblindadults AT pascualleonealvaro asensitiveperiodforlanguageinthevisualcortexdistinctpatternsofplasticityincongenitallyversuslateblindadults AT dravidaswethasri asensitiveperiodforlanguageinthevisualcortexdistinctpatternsofplasticityincongenitallyversuslateblindadults AT saxerebeccar asensitiveperiodforlanguageinthevisualcortexdistinctpatternsofplasticityincongenitallyversuslateblindadults AT bednymarina sensitiveperiodforlanguageinthevisualcortexdistinctpatternsofplasticityincongenitallyversuslateblindadults AT pascualleonealvaro sensitiveperiodforlanguageinthevisualcortexdistinctpatternsofplasticityincongenitallyversuslateblindadults AT dravidaswethasri sensitiveperiodforlanguageinthevisualcortexdistinctpatternsofplasticityincongenitallyversuslateblindadults AT saxerebeccar sensitiveperiodforlanguageinthevisualcortexdistinctpatternsofplasticityincongenitallyversuslateblindadults |