White matter structure in the right planum temporale region correlates with visual motion detection thresholds in deaf people.
The right planum temporale region is typically involved in higher-order auditory processing. After deafness, this area reorganizes to become sensitive to visual motion. This plasticity is thought to support compensatory enhancements to visual ability. In earlier work we showed that enhanced visual motion detection abilities in early-deaf people correlate with cortical thickness in a subregion of the right planum temporale. In the current study, we build on this earlier result by examining the relationship between enhanced visual motion detection ability and white matter structure in this area in the same sample. We used diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and extracted the measures of white matter structure from a region-of-interest just below the grey matter surface where cortical thickness correlates with visual motion detection ability. We also tested control regions-of-interest in the auditory and visual cortices where we did not expect to find a relationship between visual motion detection ability and white matter. We found that in the right planum temporale subregion, and in no other tested regions, fractional anisotropy, radial diffusivity, and mean diffusivity correlated with visual motion detection thresholds. We interpret this change as further evidence of a structural correlate of cross-modal reorganization after deafness.
Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, H3A 2B4, Canada; BRAMS: International Laboratory for Brain, Music, and Sound Research, Montreal, H2V 4P3, Canada; CRBLM Centre for Research on Brain, Language, and Music, Montreal, H3G 2A8, Canada. Electronic address: marthashiell@gmail.com.
Martha M
MM
Shiell
Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, H3A 2B4, Canada; BRAMS: International Laboratory for Brain, Music, and Sound Research, Montreal, H2V 4P3, Canada; CRBLM Centre for Research on Brain, Language, and Music, Montreal, H3G 2A8, Canada. Electronic address: robert.zatorre@mcgill.ca.
Robert J
RJ
Zatorre
D000222:Adaptation, Physiological; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D016880:Anisotropy; D003638:Deafness / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009039:Motion Perception; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012684:Sensory Thresholds; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014796:Visual Perception; D066127:White Matter / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000503:physiopathology; D055815:Young Adult
Cross-modal reorganization; Deafness; Diffusion-weighted imaging; Planum temporale region; Visual motion detection