title: Visual imagery and functional connectivity in blindness: a single-case study.
abstract: We present a case report on visual brain plasticity after total blindness acquired in adulthood. SH lost her sight when she was 27. Despite having been totally blind for 43 years, she reported to strongly rely on her vivid visual imagery. Three-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of SH and age-matched controls was performed. The MRI sequence included anatomical MRI, resting-state functional MRI, and task-related functional MRI where SH was instructed to imagine colours, faces, and motion. Compared to controls, voxel-based analysis revealed white matter loss along SH's visual pathway as well as grey matter atrophy in the calcarine sulci. Yet we demonstrated activation in visual areas, including V1, using functional MRI. Of the four identified visual resting-state networks, none showed alterations in spatial extent; hence, SH's preserved visual imagery seems to be mediated by intrinsic brain networks of normal extent. Time courses of two of these networks showed increased correlation with that of the inferior posterior default mode network, which may reflect adaptive changes supporting SH's strong internal visual representations. Overall, our findings demonstrate that conscious visual experience is possible even after years of absence of extrinsic input.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675, Munich, Germany.|TUM, Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Christine C
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Boucard
authors.affiliation: TUM, Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.|Institute for Advanced Study, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.|Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition, Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, 20057-1460, USA.
authors.forename: Josef P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Rauschecker
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroradiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.|Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University of Wuerzburg, Würzburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Neufang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Achim
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Berthele
authors.affiliation: TUM, Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.|Department of Psychiatry, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675, Munich, Germany.|Munich Center for Neurosciences, Brain and Mind, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Martinsried, Germany.
authors.forename: Anselm
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Doll
authors.affiliation: TUM, Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.|Department of Neuroradiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.|Department of Psychiatry, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Andrej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Manoliu
authors.affiliation: TUM, Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.|Department of Neuroradiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.|Department of Nuclear Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Valentin
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Riedl
authors.affiliation: TUM, Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.|Department of Neuroradiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.|Department of Psychiatry, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sorg
authors.affiliation: TUM, Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.|Department of Neuroradiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
authors.forename: Afra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wohlschläger
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675, Munich, Germany. muehlau@lrz.tum.de.|TUM, Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany. muehlau@lrz.tum.de.|Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), Munich, Germany. muehlau@lrz.tum.de.
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mühlau
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001284:Atrophy; D001766:Blindness / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology*; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology
keywords: Adulthood; Blindness; Neuroplasticity; Visual system