title: Cortical plasticity and preserved function in early blindness.
abstract: The "neural Darwinism" theory predicts that when one sensory modality is lacking, as in congenital blindness, the target structures are taken over by the afferent inputs from other senses that will promote and control their functional maturation (Edelman, 1993). This view receives support from both cross-modal plasticity experiments in animal models and functional imaging studies in man, which are presented here.
authors: Université catholique de Louvain, Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), Avenue Hippocrate, 54, UCL-B1.5409, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium. Electronic address: laurent.renier@uclouvain.be.
authors: Laurent
authors: L
authors: Renier
authors: Université catholique de Louvain, Institute of Neuroscience (IoNS), Avenue Hippocrate, 54, UCL-B1.5409, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium.
authors: Anne G
authors: AG
authors: De Volder
authors: Laboratory for Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition; Department of Neuroscience; Georgetown University, Medical Center; 3970 Reservoir Road, NW, Washington, DC 20007, USA.
authors: Josef P
authors: JP
authors: Rauschecker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001766:Blindness / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002540:Cerebral Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity / Q000502:physiology*; D010465:Perception / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Congenital blindness; Cortical reorganization; Cross-modal plasticity; Functional neuroimaging; Visual deprivation