title: Experience-related structural changes of degenerated occipital white matter in late-blind humans - a diffusion tensor imaging study.
abstract: Late-blind humans can learn to understand speech at ultra-fast syllable rates (ca. 20 syllables/s), a capability associated with hemodynamic activation of the central-visual system. Thus, the observed functional cross-modal recruitment of occipital cortex might facilitate ultra-fast speech processing in these individuals. To further elucidate the structural prerequisites of this skill, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was conducted in late-blind subjects differing in their capability of understanding ultra-fast speech. Fractional anisotropy (FA) was determined as a quantitative measure of the directionality of water diffusion, indicating fiber tract characteristics that might be influenced by blindness as well as the acquired perceptual skills. Analysis of the diffusion images revealed reduced FA in late-blind individuals relative to sighted controls at the level of the optic radiations at either side and the right-hemisphere dorsal thalamus (pulvinar). Moreover, late-blind subjects showed significant positive correlations between FA and the capacity of ultra-fast speech comprehension within right-hemisphere optic radiation and thalamus. Thus, experience-related structural alterations occurred in late-blind individuals within visual pathways that, presumably, are linked to higher order frontal language areas.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Neurology-Center for Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Str. 3, D-72076, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dietrich
authors.affiliation: Department of General Neurology-Center for Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Str. 3, D-72076, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Ingo
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hertrich
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, University Hospital, RWTH, Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
authors.forename: Vinod
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of General Neurology-Center for Neurology, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, University of Tübingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Str. 3, D-72076, Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Hermann
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ackermann
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D016880:Anisotropy; D001766:Blindness / Q000523:psychology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D032882:Comprehension; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013067:Speech Perception; D066127:White Matter / Q000473:pathology*; D055815:Young Adult
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