Decoding Visual Location From Neural Patterns in the Auditory Cortex of the Congenitally Deaf.

ABSTRACT: Sensory cortices of individuals who are congenitally deprived of a sense can exhibit considerable plasticity and be recruited to process information from the senses that remain intact. Here, we explored whether the auditory cortex of congenitally deaf individuals represents visual field location of a stimulus-a dimension that is represented in early visual areas. We used functional MRI to measure neural activity in auditory and visual cortices of congenitally deaf and hearing humans while they observed stimuli typically used for mapping visual field preferences in visual cortex. We found that the location of a visual stimulus can be successfully decoded from the patterns of neural activity in auditory cortex of congenitally deaf but not hearing individuals. This is particularly true for lo

SUBMITTER: Almeida J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5209787 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature