title: Anatomical and functional plasticity in early blind individuals and the mixture of experts architecture.
abstract: As described elsewhere in this special issue, recent advances in neuroimaging over the last decade have led to a rapid expansion in our knowledge of anatomical and functional correlations within the normal and abnormal human brain. Here, we review how early blindness has been used as a model system for examining the role of visual experience in the development of anatomical connections and functional responses. We discuss how lack of power in group comparisons may provide a potential explanation for why extensive anatomical changes in cortico-cortical connectivity are not observed. Finally we suggest a framework-cortical specialization via hierarchical mixtures of experts-which offers some promise in reconciling a wide range of functional and anatomical data.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Washington Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Andrew S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Bock
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Washington Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Ione
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fine
keywords: DTI; anatomical connectivity; anophthalmia; blind; fMRI; functional connectivity; plasticity; review