Vision: the versatile 'visual' cortex.
The primary visual cortex is, of course, for vision--or so you would think. But it seems that, in blind people, the primary visual cortex can take on an important role in language processing. This suggests considerable flexibility in the processes by which subregions of the human brain become specialised for different functions.
Gilbert
Sam J
SJ
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience and Department of Psychology, University College London, Alexandra House, 17 Queen Square, London WC1N 3AR, UK. sam.gilbert@ucl.ac.uk
Walsh
Vincent
V
D001766:Blindness / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D006801:Humans; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D014785:Vision, Ocular / Q000502:physiology*; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*