title: Cross-modal plasticity underpins language recovery after cochlear implantation.
abstract: Postlingually deaf subjects learn the meaning of sounds after cochlear implantation by forming new associations between sounds and their sources. Implants generate coarse frequency responses, preventing place-coding fine enough to discriminate sounds with similar temporal characteristics, e.g., buck/duck. This limitation imposes a dependency on visual cues, e.g., lipreading. We hypothesized that cross-modal facilitation results from engagement of the visual cortex by purely auditory tasks. In four functional neuroimaging experiments, we show recruitment of early visual cortex (V1/V2) when cochlear implant users listen to sounds with eyes closed. Activity in visual cortex evolved in a stimulus-specific manner as a function of time from implantation reflecting experience-dependent adaptations in the postimplant phase.
authors: Department of Physiology and, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, 60590 am Main, Frankfurt, Germany. giraud@em.uni-frankfurt.de
authors: A L
authors: AL
authors: Giraud
authors: C J
authors: CJ
authors: Price
authors: J M
authors: JM
authors: Graham
authors: E
authors: E
authors: Truy
authors: R S
authors: RS
authors: Frackowiak
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D019929:Cochlear Implantation / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003638:Deafness / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008085:Lipreading; D008297:Male; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D014055:Tomography, Emission-Computed; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*