Beat Detection Recruits the Visual Cortex in Early Blind Subjects.

ABSTRACT: Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, here we monitored the brain activity in 12 early blind subjects and 12 blindfolded control subjects, matched for age, gender and musical experience, during a beat detection task. Subjects were required to discriminate regular ("beat") from irregular ("no beat") rhythmic sequences composed of sounds or vibrotactile stimulations. In both sensory modalities, the brain activity differences between the two groups involved heteromodal brain regions including parietal and frontal cortical areas and occipital brain areas, that were recruited in the early blind group only. Accordingly, early blindness induced brain plasticity changes in the cerebral pathways involved in rhythm perception, with a participation of the visually deprived occipital brain area

SUBMITTER: Araneda R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8066101 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature