Congenital blindness has been shown to result in behavioral adaptation and neuronal reorganization, but the underlying neuronal mechanisms are largely unknown. Brain rhythms are characteristic for anatomically defined brain regions and provide a putative mechanistic link to cognitive processes. In a novel approach, using magnetoencephalography resting state data of congenitally blind and sighted humans, deprivation-related changes in spectral profiles were mapped to the cortex using clustering and classification procedures. Altered spectral profiles in visual areas suggest changes in visual alpha-gamma band inhibitory-excitatory circuits. Remarkably, spectral profiles were also altered in auditory and right frontal areas showing increased power in theta-to-beta frequency bands in blind compared with sighted individuals, possibly related to adaptive auditory and higher cognitive processing. Moreover, occipital alpha correlated with microstructural white matter properties extending bilaterally across posterior parts of the brain. We provide evidence that visual deprivation selectively modulates spectral profiles, possibly reflecting structural and functional adaptation.
You may also like
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
March 24, 2021Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics
How the brain teaches itself to see
March 16, 2021Max Planck Institute for Brain Research
Cannibal worms spare their own brood
February 1, 2021Center for Advanced European Studies and Research
Science on film, episode 4: Motivational states of the...
January 29, 2021Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics
The role that feedback plays in learning
January 29, 2021Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics
When the Mario Brothers feel dizzy
January 29, 2021Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics