کد مقاله | کد نشریه | سال انتشار | مقاله انگلیسی | نسخه تمام متن |
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3048112 | 1185072 | 2006 | 14 صفحه PDF | دانلود رایگان |
ObjectiveGoal of the present study was to compare the amplitude and topography of EEG alpha activity between congenitally blind and sighted adults both in a primarily sensory and a primarily cognitive task.MethodsCongenitally blind and blindfolded sighted adults performed a somatosensory perception task (experiment 1), which required to discriminate tactile stimuli at different fingers, and a mental imagery task (experiment 2), in which a previously haptically encoded map had to be mentally scanned. The EEG was recorded with 61 electrodes and was analyzed with the Fast Fourier Transformation (FFT).ResultsResults showed a significant reduction of alpha power in the blind compared to the sighted controls over parieto-occipital recording sites in both tasks.ConclusionsIt is speculated that brain structures, which have been associated with the generation of posterior alpha rhythms in sighted adults, including the geniculo-cortical pathway, depend on visual input and might either be reorganized or atrophied following blindness from birth.SignificanceThe present study demonstrates that oscillatory activity of the brain might serve as a marker of cortical reorganization.
Journal: Clinical Neurophysiology - Volume 117, Issue 7, July 2006, Pages 1560–1573