title: Decoding Visual Location From Neural Patterns in the Auditory Cortex of the Congenitally Deaf.
abstract: Sensory cortices of individuals who are congenitally deprived of a sense can exhibit considerable plasticity and be recruited to process information from the senses that remain intact. Here, we explored whether the auditory cortex of congenitally deaf individuals represents visual field location of a stimulus-a dimension that is represented in early visual areas. We used functional MRI to measure neural activity in auditory and visual cortices of congenitally deaf and hearing humans while they observed stimuli typically used for mapping visual field preferences in visual cortex. We found that the location of a visual stimulus can be successfully decoded from the patterns of neural activity in auditory cortex of congenitally deaf but not hearing individuals. This is particularly true for locations within the horizontal plane and within peripheral vision. These data show that the representations stored within neuroplastically changed auditory cortex can align with dimensions that are typically represented in visual cortex.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Coimbra Proaction Laboratory, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Coimbra jorgealmeida@fpce.uc.pt.
authors.forename: Jorge
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Almeida
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Peking University Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking University.
authors.forename: Dongjun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester.
authors.forename: Quanjing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, University of Rochester Department of Neurosurgery, University of Rochester Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester.
authors.forename: Bradford Z
authors.initials: BZ
authors.lastname: Mahon
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Coimbra Proaction Laboratory, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Coimbra.
authors.forename: Fan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: School of Psychology, University of Minho Neuropsychophysiology Laboratory, Research Center in Psychology, School of Psychology, University of Minho Bouvé College of Health Sciences, Northeastern University.
authors.forename: Óscar F
authors.initials: ÓF
authors.lastname: Gonçalves
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Peking University Key Laboratory of Machine Perception (Ministry of Education), Peking University Peking-Tsinghua Center for Life Sciences, Peking University PKU-IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Peking University.
authors.forename: Fang
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal University.
authors.forename: Yanchao
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bi
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001303:Auditory Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003638:Deafness / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000473:pathology*; D014794:Visual Fields; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: congenital deafness; decoding; fMRI; multivariate pattern analysis; neuroplasticity; sensory reorganization; visual location