Ultra-fast speech comprehension in blind subjects engages primary visual cortex, fusiform gyrus, and pulvinar - a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Individuals suffering from vision loss of a peripheral origin may learn to understand spoken language at a rate of up to about 22 syllables (syl) per second - exceeding by far the maximum performance level of normal-sighted listeners (ca. 8 syl/s). To further elucidate the brain mechanisms underlying this extraordinary skill, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed in blind subjects of varying ultra-fast speech comprehension capabilities and sighted individuals while listening to sentence utterances of a moderately fast (8 syl/s) or ultra-fast (16 syl/s) syllabic rate.

Results

Besides left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), bilateral posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) and left supplementary motor area (SMA), blind people highly proficient in u

SUBMITTER: Dietrich S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3847124 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature