People born blind develop unique connectivity patterns in the primary visual cortex, akin to a fingerprint, a new study by Georgetown University neuroscientists reveals.Published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), these findings could inform personalised rehabilitation and sight restoration strategies.
The study, led by Lenia Amaral, PhD, and Ella Striem-Amit, PhD, explores how the visual cortex in individuals born blind responds to various stimuli, including touch and sound. Unlike the consistent visual cortex connectivity in sighted people, blind individuals exhibit highly individual patterns that are stable over time.
The research involved functional MRI scans of blind participants over two years, revealing that their connectivity patterns remained consistent regardless of tasks such as localising sounds or identifying shapes.