Cited by 590Tactile and Sensory InteractionsMultisensory perception and integrationVisual perception and processing mechanisms

Compensatory plasticity and sensory substitution in the cerebral cortex

Rauschecker, Josef P.·1995·Trends in Neurosciences

Abstract

Cats deprived visually from birth show few overt impairments in their natural behavior. Therefore, they seem well suited as an animal model for the study of compensatory plasticity after early vision loss. It can be demonstrated that binocularly deprived cats show improved abilities of auditory localization, and at least equal tactile behavior compared to normal controls. Within the anterior ectosylvian cortex of binocularly deprived cats, where different sensory modalities come together, the anterior ectosylvian visual area is completely taken over by auditory and somatosensory inputs. Furthermore, the auditory spatial tuning of single units in this cortical region is sharpened significantly as a result of visual deprivation. Somatosensory compensation for early loss of vision can be demonstrated by a hypertrophy of the facial vibrissae, and a corresponding expansion of their central representation in the somatosensory cortex of binocularly deprived animals. The compensatory changes in the cortex can be explained by a reorganization of sensory representations under the guidance of sensorimotor feedback rather than by instruction through an extraneous 'supervisory' signal. These processes might form the neural basis of sensory substitution in blind humans.

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Crossref · 10.1016/0166-2236(95)93948-w

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Authors
Rauschecker, J. P.
Affiliations
National Institutes of Health (US)
Corresponding author
Rauschecker, Josef P.
Venue
Trends in Neurosciences
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
1995-01
Volume
18
Issue
1
Pages
36-43
ISSN
0166-2236 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W1975230707
Cited by
590
References
85
Citations by year
2026: 8 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 28 · 2018: 30 · 2017: 23 · 2016: 29 · 2015: 22 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 21
FWCI
3.31
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Locations
  • Trends in Neurosciences (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Tactile and Sensory Interactions
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Multisensory perception and integration
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Visual perception and processing mechanisms
Keywords
compensatory plasticity, sensory substitution, congenital blindness, sound localization, tactile behavior, somatosensory cortex, sensorimotor feedback, cross-modal plasticity
MeSH terms
Animals, Auditory Cortex, Blindness, Cats, Cerebral Cortex, Disease Models, Animal, Humans, Neuronal Plasticity, Somatosensory Cortex

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