ArticleDevelopmental science2026
The Role of Early Visual Experience in Cross-Signal Dependency Detection.
Article in Developmental science, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Intact Visual Correlation Detection in Autistic Adults.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026Article
- Longitudinal Changes in Nystagmus Following Late Treatment for Congenital Blindness.Investigative ophthalmology & visual science · 2026Article
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Authors and funding
10 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Temporal co-occurrence of two sensory signals is a powerful indicator of their potential association. Detection of such coincidences is believed to be a key contributor to perceptual organization and a primary objective of cortical computations. Here, we investigate whether the development of this ability requires early sensory experience. We examined the performance of early-blind children who surgically gained sight as adolescents. Our data revealed three key results. First, we found that while not fully reaching the level of normally sighted controls, late-sighted patients examined several years after surgery were able to robustly detect signal dependencies with markedly above-chance accuracy at all but the weakest strengths tested. Second, for both groups, performance levels were comparable for intra- and inter-modal stimuli, revealing significant plasticity for establishing cross-modal linkages late in childhood. Finally, comparison with a separate group of late-sighted patients tracked longitudinally from preoperative to one-month postoperative status suggests that this ability may follow a protracted developmental time course after sight surgery. These results help characterize the development of a foundational process for detecting relationships between environmental entities and point to the resilience of acquiring this important skill to early-onset, prolonged visual deprivation. SUMMARY: We tested the ability of congenitally blind children who gained sight late in childhood to detect repeated temporal co-occurrence of sensory signals. We found that while not reaching the full normally sighted level, late-sighted patients are able to detect signal dependencies with markedly above-chance accuracy. This ability may follow a protracted developmental time course after sight-restoring surgery. The availability of neural plasticity into late childhood has important implications for the rehabilitation prospects of children with congenital blindness.
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Registered trials
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