ArticleeLife2024
The transformation of sensory to perceptual braille letter representations in the visually deprived brain.
Article in eLife, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- A large-scale heterogeneous 3D magnetic resonance brain imaging dataset for self-supervised learning.Scientific data · 2026Article
- Functional reorganization of the visual cortex in blindness: a connectivity perspective.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2026Review
- Article
- The transformation of sensory to perceptual braille letter representations in the visually deprived brain.eLife · 2024Article
- Touch to text: Spatiotemporal evolution of braille letter representations in blind readers.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
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Abstract
Experience-based plasticity of the human cortex mediates the influence of individual experience on cognition and behavior. The complete loss of a sensory modality is among the most extreme such experiences. Investigating such a selective, yet extreme change in experience allows for the characterization of experience-based plasticity at its boundaries. Here, we investigated information processing in individuals who lost vision at birth or early in life by probing the processing of braille letter information. We characterized the transformation of braille letter information from sensory representations depending on the reading hand to perceptual representations that are independent of the reading hand. Using a multivariate analysis framework in combination with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), and behavioral assessment, we tracked cortical braille representations in space and time, and probed their behavioral relevance. We located sensory representations in tactile processing areas and perceptual representations in sighted reading areas, with the lateral occipital complex as a connecting 'hinge' region. This elucidates the plasticity of the visually deprived brain in terms of information processing. Regarding information processing in time, we found that sensory representations emerge before perceptual representations. This indicates that even extreme cases of brain plasticity adhere to a common temporal scheme in the progression from sensory to perceptual transformations. Ascertaining behavioral relevance through perceived similarity ratings, we found that perceptual representations in sighted reading areas, but not sensory representations in tactile processing areas are suitably formatted to guide behavior. Together, our results reveal a nuanced picture of both the potentials and limits of experience-dependent plasticity in the visually deprived brain.
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