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A Method to Study Adaptation to Left-Right Reversed Audition
Published on: October 29, 2018
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Structural and Functional Network-Level Reorganization in the Coding of Auditory Motion Directions and Sound Source
Ceren Battal1,2, Ane Gurtubay-Antolin3,4, Mohamed Rezk3,2
1Institute of Research in Psychology (IPSY) and Institute of NeuroScience (IoNS), Université Catholique de Louvain, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium ceren.battal@uclouvain.be olivier.collignon@uclouvain.be.
Summary
Congenital blindness enhances the human middle temporal area (hMT+/V5) response to moving sounds, improving motion direction and sound localization. This cross-modal reorganization impacts brain networks supporting spatial hearing, with altered microstructural connections.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Cognitive Science
- Sensory Processing
Background:
- The human middle temporal area (hMT+/V5) is crucial for visual motion processing in sighted individuals.
- Early blindness leads to cross-modal plasticity, where hMT+/V5 responds to auditory motion.
- The specificity of this auditory response (motion vs. sound location) and its impact on auditory areas like the human planum temporale (hPT) are not fully understood.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the role of hMT+/V5 in processing auditory motion direction and sound source location in early blindness.
- To examine the impact of blindness-induced cross-modal reorganization on the hPT, a key auditory processing region.
- To explore alterations in brain network connectivity between hMT+/V5 and hPT following early visual deprivation.
Main Methods:
- Combined functional MRI (fMRI) and diffusion-weighted MRI (dMRI) in sighted and congenitally blind participants.
- Analysis of brain responses to moving sounds using univariate and multivariate decoding techniques.
- Assessment of functional connectivity strength and microstructural properties between hMT+/V5 and hPT.
Main Results:
- The posterior hMT+/V5 showed selectivity for moving sounds exclusively in blind participants.
- Decoding analyses revealed higher motion direction and sound position information in hMT+/V5 and lower in hPT for the blind group.
- While axis-of-motion organization was present in both groups, it was reduced in the hPT of blind individuals; altered microstructural connectivity between hMT+/V5 and hPT was observed in blindness.
Conclusions:
- The axis-of-motion organization in hMT+/V5 is independent of visual experience.
- Congenital blindness induces significant cross-modal reorganization in occipitotemporal and auditory networks, altering response properties and connectivity.
- These findings highlight how blindness reshapes brain networks to support spatial hearing through altered cross-modal interactions.
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