AbstractProlonged auditory sensory deprivation leads to brain reorganization, indicated by functional enhancement in remaining sensory systems, a phenomenon known as cross-modal plasticity. In this study we investigated differences in functional brain network shifts from eyes-closed to eyes-open conditions between deaf and hearing people. Electroencephalography activity was recorded in deaf (N = 71) and hearing people (N = 122) living in rural Africa, which yielded a unique data-set of congenital, pre-lingual and post-lingual deaf people, with a divergent experience in American Sign Language. Functional networks were determined from the synchronization of electroencephalography signals between fourteen electrodes distributed over the scalp. We studied the synchronization between the auditory and visual cortex and performed whole-brain minimum spanning tree analysis based on the phase lag index of functional connectivity. This tree analysis accounts for variations in global network density and allows unbiased characterization of functional network backbones. We found increased functional connectivity between the auditory and visual cortex in deaf people during the eyes-closed condition in both the alpha and beta bands. Furthermore, we found functional network backbone shifts both in deaf and healthy people as they went from eyes-closed to eyes-open conditions. In both the alpha and beta band the deafs’ brain showed larger functional backbone-shifts in node strength compared to controls. In the alpha band this shift in network strength differed among deaf participants and depended on type of deafness: congenital, pre-lingual or post-lingual deafness. In addition, a correlation was found between functional backbone characteristics and experience of sign language. Our study revealed more insights in functional network reorganization specifically due to prolonged lack of auditory input, but might also be helpful for sensory deprivation and cross-modal plasticity in general. Global cortical network reorganization in deaf people supports the plastic capacities of the young brain. The differences between type of deafness stresses that etiology affects functional reorganization, whereas the association between network organization and acquired sign language experience reflects ongoing brain adaptation in people with hearing disabilities.
The power of language: functional brain network topology of deaf and hearing in relation to sign language experience
