B4U India: People blinded early in life tap unused brain to develop better hearing

People blinded early in life tap unused brain to develop better hearing
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govind on 24 October, 2007 06:50:59
 
An expert at Oregon Health and Science University has identified an area of the
brain tapped by people blinded early in life to develop better hearing than
individuals with their visions intact.
Alexander Stevens says that blind people co-opt the medial occipitalpart of
the visual system that plays a crucial role in registering visual signals by
setting the threshold at which they are noticed by the brainto help detect
sounds.
In a study, the researcher played a series of sounds to blind subjects, each of
which was preceded by a cue. He scanned their brains as they heard the sounds.
As the subjects heard each cue warning them to pay attention, their medial
occipital became more active.
Stevens says that the finding indicates that the subjects brains were using
the same region that alerts them to visual signals to prime them to listen out
for sounds, reports New Scientist magazine. (ANI)