scholarly journals Visual experience shapes the neural networks remapping touch into external space

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginie Crollen ◽  
Latifa Lazzouni ◽  
Mohamed Rezk ◽  
Antoine Bellemare ◽  
Franco Lepore ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Experience ◽  
Temporal Order Judgment ◽  
Interaction Analysis ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
Visual Deprivation ◽  
The Body ◽  
External Space ◽  
Touch Perception ◽  
Congenitally Blind ◽  
The Brain

AbstractLocalizing touch relies on the activation of skin-based and externally defined spatial frames of references. Psychophysical studies have demonstrated that early visual deprivation prevents the automatic remapping of touch into external space. We used fMRI to characterize how visual experience impacts on the brain circuits dedicated to the spatial processing of touch. Sighted and congenitally blind humans (male and female) performed a tactile temporal order judgment (TOJ) task, either with the hands uncrossed or crossed over the body midline. Behavioral data confirmed that crossing the hands has a detrimental effect on TOJ judgments in sighted but not in blind. Crucially, the crossed hand posture elicited more activity in a fronto-parietal network in the sighted group only. Psychophysiological interaction analysis revealed that the congenitally blind showed enhanced functional connectivity between parietal and frontal regions in the crossed versus uncrossed hand postures. Our results demonstrate that visual experience scaffolds the neural implementation of touch perception.Significance statementAlthough we seamlessly localize tactile events in our daily life, it is not a trivial operation because the hands move constantly within the peripersonal space. To process touch correctly, the brain has therefore to take the current position of the limbs into account and remap them to their location in the external world. In sighted, parietal and premotor areas support this process. However, while visual experience has been suggested to support the implementation of the automatic external remapping of touch, no studies so far have investigated how early visual deprivation alters the brain network supporting touch localization. Examining this question is therefore crucial to conclusively determine the intrinsic role vision plays in scaffolding the neural implementation of touch perception.

scholarly journals Testing the exteroceptive function of nociception: the role of visual experience in shaping the spatial representations of nociceptive inputs

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camille Vanderclausen ◽  
Marion Bourgois ◽  
Anne De Volder ◽  
Valéry Legrain
Keyword(s):  
Visual Experience ◽  
Temporal Order Judgment ◽  
Skin Surface ◽  
The Body ◽  
Body Parts ◽  
Physical Damage ◽  
External Space ◽  
Crossmodal Interactions ◽  
Bodily Experiences

AbstractAdequately localizing pain is crucial to protect the body against physical damage and react to the stimulus in external space having caused such damage. Accordingly, it is hypothesized that nociceptive inputs are remapped from a somatotopic reference frame, representing the skin surface, towards a spatiotopic frame, representing the body parts in external space. This ability is thought to be developed and shaped by early visual experience. To test this hypothesis, normally sighted and early blind participants performed temporal order judgment tasks during which they judged which of two nociceptive stimuli applied on each hand’s dorsum was perceived as first delivered. Crucially, tasks were performed with the hands either in an uncrossed posture or crossed over body midline. While early blinds were not affected by the posture, performances of the normally sighted participants decreased in the crossed condition relative to the uncrossed condition. This indicates that nociceptive stimuli were automatically remapped into a spatiotopic representation that interfered with somatotopy in normally sighted individuals, whereas early blinds seemed to mostly rely on a somatotopic representation to localize nociceptive inputs. Accordingly, the plasticity of the nociceptive system would not purely depend on bodily experiences but also on crossmodal interactions between nociception and vision during early sensory experience.

scholarly journals Congenital visual deprivation modulates the perception of own, but not others’ body size

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elena Nava ◽  
Luigi Tamè ◽  
Serena Giurgola ◽  
Nadia Bolognini
Keyword(s):  
Visual Experience ◽  
Visual Deprivation ◽  
The Body ◽  
Sensory Inputs ◽  
Body Model ◽  
Congenital Limb ◽  
Ideal Body ◽  
Blind Individuals ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Limb Aplasia

Abstract Neuropsychological reports of phantom sensations in congenital limb aplasia have often been taken as evidence of the existence of an innate, ‘hard-wired’, representation of the body in the brain that does not need to be constructed from, or updated by, online afferent sensory inputs, including vision. However, when asked to draw the contour of their own body and of an ideal body (i.e. body with perfect proportions), congenitally, but not late blind individuals, exhibited a magnified representation of their own body, specifically of their hands, in comparison to sighted controls. This over-representation did not extend to their ideal body model. These findings show that the representation of the own body metric is shaped by early visual experience, and that seeing one’s own and other bodies early in development contributes to the construction of a unified internal model, in which ‘own’ and ‘other’ merge.

scholarly journals The influence of visual experience and cognitive goals on spatial representations of nociceptive stimuli

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camille Vanderclausen ◽  
Louise Manfron ◽  
Anne De Volder ◽  
Valéry Legrain
Keyword(s):  
Visual Experience ◽  
Reference Frames ◽  
Temporal Order ◽  
Temporal Order Judgment ◽  
The Body ◽  
Spatial Representations ◽  
Spatial Reference ◽  
Spatial Reference Frames ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Brain

AbstractLocalizing pain is an important process as it allows detecting which part of the body is being hurt and identifying in its surrounding which stimulus is producing the damage. Nociceptive inputs should therefore be mapped according to both somatotopic (“which limb is stimulated?”) and spatiotopic representations (“where is the stimulated limb?”). Since the limbs constantly move in space, the brain has to realign the different spatial representations, for instance when the hands are crossed and the left/right hand is in the right/left part of space, in order to adequately guide actions towards the threatening object. Such ability is thought to be dependent on past sensory experience and contextual factors. This was tested by comparing performances of early blind and normally sighted participants during nociceptive temporal order judgment tasks. The instructions prioritized either anatomy (left/right hands) or the external space (left/right hemispaces). As compared to an uncrossed hands posture, sighted participants’ performances were decreased when the hands were crossed, whatever the instructions. Early blind participants’ performances were affected by crossing the hands only during spatial instruction, but not during anatomical instruction. These results indicate that nociceptive stimuli are automatically coded according to both somatotopic and spatiotopic representations, but the integration of the different spatial reference frames would depend on early visual experience and ongoing cognitive goals, illustrating the plasticity and the flexibility of the nociceptive system.

scholarly journals How visual experience and task context modulate the use of internal and external spatial coordinate for perception and action

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Virginie Crollen ◽  
Tiffany Spruyt ◽  
Pierre Mahau ◽  
Roberto Bottini ◽  
Olivier Collignon
Keyword(s):  
Coordinate System ◽  
Visual Experience ◽  
Simon Task ◽  
Frame Of Reference ◽  
The Body ◽  
Blind People ◽  
Coordinate Systems ◽  
Task Instructions ◽  
Congenitally Blind ◽  
External Frame

Recent studies proposed that the use of internal and external coordinate systems may be more flexible in congenitally blind when compared to sighted individuals. To investigate this hypothesis further, we asked congenitally blind and sighted people to perform, with the hands uncrossed and crossed over the body midline, a tactile TOJ and an auditory Simon task. Crucially, both tasks were carried out under task instructions either favoring the use of an internal (left vs. right hand) or an external (left vs. right hemispace) frame of reference. In the internal condition of the TOJ task, our results replicated previous findings (Röder et al., 2004) showing that hand crossing only impaired sighted participants’ performance, suggesting that blind people did not activate by default a (conflicting) external frame of reference. However, under external instructions, a decrease of performance was observed in both groups, suggesting that even blind people activated an external coordinate system in this condition. In the Simon task, and in contrast with a previous study (Roder et al., 2007), both groups responded more efficiently when the sound was presented from the same side of the response (‘‘Simon effect’’) independently of the hands position. This was true under the internal and external conditions, therefore suggesting that blind and sighted by default activated an external coordinate system in this task. All together, these data comprehensively demonstrate how visual experience shapes the default weight attributed to internal and external coordinate systems for action and perception depending on task demand.

scholarly journals Differences in the major fiber-tracts of people with congenital and acquired blindness

2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (11) ◽  
pp. 366-1-366-7
Author(s):  
Katherine E.M. Tregillus ◽  
Lora T. Likova
Keyword(s):  
Visual Loss ◽  
Brain Connectivity ◽  
Structural Connectivity ◽  
Visual Deprivation ◽  
Visual Development ◽  
Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus ◽  
Brain Images ◽  
Fiber Tracts ◽  
Congenitally Blind ◽  
The Brain

In order to better understand how our visual system processes information, we must understand the underlying brain connectivity architecture, and how it can get reorganized under visual deprivation. The full extent to which visual development and visual loss affect connectivity is not well known. To investigate the effect of the onset of blindness on structural connectivity both at the whole-brain voxel-wise level and at the level of all major whitematter tracts, we applied two complementary Diffusion-Tension Imaging (DTI) methods, TBSS and AFQ. Diffusion-weighted brain images were collected from three groups of participants: congenitally blind (CB), acquired blind (AB), and fully sighted controls. The differences between these groups were evaluated on a voxel-wise scale with Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS) method, and on larger-scale with Automated Fiber Quantification (AFQ), a method that allows for between-group comparisons at the level of the major fiber tracts. TBSS revealed that both blind groups tended to have higher FA than sighted controls in the central structures of the brain. AFQ revealed that, where the three groups differed, congenitally blind participants tended to be more similar to sighted controls than to those participants who had acquired blindness later in life. These differences were specifically manifested in the left uncinated fasciculus, the right corticospinal fasciculus, and the left superior longitudinal fasciculus, areas broadly associated with a range of higher-level cognitive systems.

scholarly journals Multisystemic Increment of Cortical Thickness in Congenital Blind Children

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alberto Inuggi ◽  
Anna Pichiecchio ◽  
Benedetta Ciacchini ◽  
Sabrina Signorini ◽  
Federica Morelli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cortical Thickness ◽  
Visual Experience ◽  
Low Vision ◽  
Physiological Mechanism ◽  
Visual Deprivation ◽  
Cortical Surface ◽  
Blind Children ◽  
Neural Growth ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Ct Studies

Abstract It has been shown that the total or partial lack of visual experience is associated with a plastic reorganization at the brain level, more prominent in congenital blind. Cortical thickness (CT) studies, to date involving only adult subjects, showed that only congenital blind have a thicker cortex than age-matched sighted population while late blind do not. This was explained as a deviation from the physiological mechanism of initial neural growth followed by a pruning mechanism that, in congenital blind children, might be reduced by their visual deprivation, thus determining a thicker cortex. Since those studies involved only adults, it is unknown when these changes may appear and whether they are related to impairment degree. To address this question, we compared the CT among 28 children, from 2 to 12 years, with congenital visual impairments of different degree and an age-matched sighted population. Vertex-wise analysis showed that blind children, but not low vision one, had a thicker cortical surface in few clusters located in occipital, superior parietal, anterior-cingular, orbito-frontal, and mesial precentral regions. Our data suggest that the effect of visual impairment on determining thicker cortex is an early phenomenon, is multisystemic, and occurs only when blindness is almost complete.

scholarly journals Spatio-Temporal Pattern Representation from AI Inspired Brain Model in Spiking Neural Network

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 6618-6631
Keyword(s):  
Motor Neurons ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Spatial Domain ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
The Body ◽  
Domain Modeling ◽  
Population Activity ◽  
Temporal Domain ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
The Brain

Neuronal population activity in the brain is the combined response of information in the spatial domain and dynamics in the temporal domain. Modeling such Spatio-temporal mechanisms is a complex process because of the complexity of the brain and the limitations of the hardware. In this paper, we demonstrate how information processing principles adapted from the brain can be used to create a brain-inspired artificial intelligence (AI) model and represent Spatio-temporal patterns. The same is demonstrated by designing the tiny brain using spiking neural networks, where activated neuronal populations represent information in the spatial domain and transmitting signals represent dynamics in the temporal domain. Spatially located sensory neurons excited by input visual stimuli further activate motor neurons to trigger a motor response that causes behavior modification of the robotic agent. Initially, an isolated brain network is simulated to understand the excitation part from sensory to motor neurons while plotting waveform between membrane potential and time. The response of the network to stimulate robot body movements is also plotted to demonstrate representation. The simulation shows how the response of particular visual stimuli modifies behavior and helps us understand the body and brain synchronization. The perceived environment and resultant behavior response allow us to study body interaction with the environment.

scholarly journals The Size-Weight Illusion is unimpaired in individuals with a history of congenital visual deprivation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rashi Pant ◽  
Maria J. S. Guerreiro ◽  
Pia Ley ◽  
Davide Bottari ◽  
Idris Shareef ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Experience ◽  
Multisensory Processing ◽  
Visual Deprivation ◽  
Developmental Cataract ◽  
Congenitally Blind ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sight Restoration ◽  
Weight Illusion

AbstractVisual deprivation in childhood can lead to lifelong impairments in visual and multisensory processing. Here, the Size-Weight-Illusion was used to test whether visuo-haptic integration recovers after sight restoration. In Experiment 1, congenital (CC: 7 (3F), 8–35 years) and developmental cataract reversal individuals (DC: 9 (2F), 8–37 years), as well as congenitally blind (CB: 2 (1F), 33 and 44 years) and normally sighted individuals (SC: 10 (7F), 19-36 years) perceived larger objects as lighter than smaller objects of the same weight. In Experiment 2, CC (6 (1F), 17–44.7 years) and SC (7 (5F), 21-29 years) individuals performed identically when tested without haptic size cues. Together, this suggested that early visual experience is not necessary to perceive the Size-Weight-Illusion.

Restricted recovery of external remapping of tactile stimuli after restoring vision in a congenitally blind man

2012 ◽  
Vol 25 (0) ◽  
pp. 190
Author(s):  
Pia Ley ◽  
Davide Bottari ◽  
Bhamy Hariprasad Shenoy ◽  
Ramesh Kekunnaya ◽  
Brigitte Roeder
Keyword(s):  
Tactile Stimulus ◽  
Temporal Order Judgment ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Visual Deprivation ◽  
Judgment Task ◽  
Tactile Stimuli ◽  
Visual Distracter ◽  
Congenitally Blind ◽  
Tactile Temporal Order Judgment ◽  
Crossmodal Congruency

People with surgically removed congenital dense bilateral cataracts offer a natural model of visual deprivation and reafferentation in humans to investigate sensitive periods of multisensory development, for example regarding the recruitment of external or anatomical frames of reference for spatial representation. Here we present a single case (HS; male; 33 years; right-handed), born with congenital dense bilateral cataracts. His lenses were removed at the age of two years, but he received optical aids only at age six. At time of testing, his visual acuity was 30% in the best eye. We performed two tasks, a tactile temporal order judgment task (TOJ) in which two tactile stimuli were presented successively to the index fingers located in the two hemifields, adopting a crossed and uncrossed hand posture. The participant judged as precisely as possible which side was stimulated first. Moreover, we used a crossmodal-congruency task in which a tactile stimulus and an irrelevant visual distracter were presented simultaneously but independently to one of four positions. The participant judged the location (index or thumb) of the tactile stimulus with hands crossed or uncrossed. Speed was emphasized. In contrast to sighted controls, HS did not show a decrement of TOJ performance with hands crossed. Moreover, while the congruency gain was equivalent to sighted controls with uncrossed hands, this effect was significantly reduced with hands crossed. Thus, an external remapping of tactile stimuli still develops after a long phase of visual deprivation. However, remapping seems to be less efficient and to only take place in the context of visual stimuli.

scholarly journals Development of the Brain Functional Connectome Follows Puberty-Dependent Nonlinear Trajectories

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zeus Gracia-Tabuenca ◽  
Martha Beatriz Moreno ◽  
Fernando Barrios ◽  
Sarael Alcauter
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Flexibility ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Morphological Changes ◽  
Brain Network ◽  
The Body ◽  
Brain Organization ◽  
Functional Connectome ◽  
Nonlinear Trends ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Brain

AbstractAdolescence is a developmental period that dramatically impacts body and behavior, with pubertal hormones playing an important role not only in the morphological changes in the body but also in brain structure and function. Understanding brain development during adolescence has become a priority in neuroscience because it coincides with the onset of many psychiatric and behavioral disorders. However, little is known about how puberty influences the brain functional connectome. In this study, taking a longitudinal human sample of typically developing children and adolescents (of both sexes), we demonstrate that the development of the brain functional connectome better fits pubertal status than chronological age. In particular, centrality, segregation, efficiency, and integration of the brain functional connectome increase after the onset of the pubertal markers. We found that these effects are stronger in attention and task control networks. Lastly, after controlling for this effect, we showed that functional connectivity between these networks is related to better performance in cognitive flexibility. This study points out the importance of considering longitudinal nonlinear trends when exploring developmental trajectories, and emphasizes the impact of puberty on the functional organization of the brain in adolescence.Significance StatementUnderstanding the brain organization along development is a crucial challenge for Neuroscience. In particular, during adolescence there is a great impact in body and cognitive functions as well as substantial incidence of mental health disruptions. Here, we tested how brain organization changes along this period based on the properties of the functional connectome in a longitudinal pediatric sample. We found a nonlinear increase in the connectivity and the brain network efficiency, particularly after the onset of puberty. These effects were more prominent in association networks. In addition, higher connectivity in those areas was associated with better performance in cognitive flexibility. These results demonstrate the importance of considering pubertal assessment as well as nonlinear trends in developmental studies.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document