Cortical plasticity and preserved function in early blindness

Laurent Renier; Anne G De Volder; Josef P Rauschecker

doi:10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.01.025

Cortical plasticity and preserved function in early blindness

Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2014 Apr:41:53-63. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2013.01.025. Epub 2013 Feb 20.

Authors

Laurent Renier¹, Anne G De Volder², Josef P Rauschecker³

Affiliations

¹ Université catholique de Louvain, Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), Avenue Hippocrate, 54, UCL-B1.5409, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: laurent.renier@uclouvain.be.
² Université catholique de Louvain, Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), Avenue Hippocrate, 54, UCL-B1.5409, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium.
³ Laboratory for Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition; Department of Neuroscience; Georgetown University, Medical Center; 3970 Reservoir Road, NW, Washington, DC 20007, USA.

Abstract

The "neural Darwinism" theory predicts that when one sensory modality is lacking, as in congenital blindness, the target structures are taken over by the afferent inputs from other senses that will promote and control their functional maturation (Edelman, 1993). This view receives support from both cross-modal plasticity experiments in animal models and functional imaging studies in man, which are presented here.

Keywords: Congenital blindness; Cortical reorganization; Cross-modal plasticity; Functional neuroimaging; Visual deprivation.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Review

MeSH terms

Animals
Blindness / physiopathology*
Cerebral Cortex / physiopathology*
Humans
Neuronal Plasticity / physiology*
Perception / physiology*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding