Tactile vision : neuroimaging and brain-reorganization in the blind ; implications for learning and adaptive-technology

Sensory impairment raises interesting questions regarding the brain's ability for functional reorganization. One particularly interesting instance of this reorganization is the remarkable remapping (called cortical plasticity) of visual areas in the blind population. Previous neuroimaging studies have demonstrated activation in visual areas of blind subjects in response to feeling tactile stimuli (Sadato et. al, 1996, 1998; Cohen et. al, 1997; Buchel et. al 1998). In this experiment, we further investigated the role of the traditional visual areas of the brain in tactile pattern recognition and shape discrimination in blind and sighted people. While the literature demonstrates some level of functional reorganization in the brains of blind individuals, many questions remain unresolved. In particular does tactile stimulation result in: