The role of blind humans’ visual cortex in auditory change detection
Abstract
Several studies using brain imaging have demonstrated occipital-cortex activation in blind individuals during tactile and auditory tasks, suggesting that the visual cortex deprived of its normal input has adopted a new role in information processing. So far, however, at what stages of information processing and to which perceptual sub-processes this applies remains unclear. We determined the auditory functions of this cortical region in early-blind humans by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging. We found that these areas were not activated by the mere presence of sound, but were involved in the attentive processing of changes in the auditory environment, which is important in detecting potentially dangerous or other important events in the surroundings, for example.
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“Sound source discrimination, auditory motion discrimination, auditory change detection and sound localization all result in occipital activations in blind subjects (Kujala et al., 2005; Poirier et al., 2006; Voss et al., 2008; Weeks et al., 2000).”
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- Authors
- Kujala, T., Palva, M. J., Salonen, O., Alku, P., Huotilainen, M., Järvinen, A., & Näätänen, R.
- Affiliations
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Helsinki University Hospital (FI)
- Corresponding author
- Kujala, Teija
- Venue
- Neuroscience Letters
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2005-05
- Volume
- 379
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 127-131
- ISSN
- 0304-3940 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2069244153
- Cited by
- 79
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 3 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 2.80
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neuroscience Letters (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 › Neuroscience and Music Perception
- Keywords
- visual cortex, auditory change detection, early blindness, cross-modal plasticity, auditory attention, occipital cortex, auditory perception, brain reorganization
- MeSH terms
- Carbamide Peroxide, Acoustic Stimulation, Adult, Analysis of Variance, Auditory Perception, Blindness, Brain Mapping, Drug Combinations, Female, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Peroxides, Touch, Urea, Visual Cortex, Persons with Visual Disabilities
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