title: Enhanced verbal abilities in the congenitally blind.
abstract: Numerous studies have found that congenitally blind individuals have better verbal memory than their normally sighted counterparts. However, it is not known whether this reflects superiority of verbal or memory abilities. In order to distinguish between these possibilities, we tested congenitally blind participants and normally sighted control participants, matched for age and education, on a range of verbal and spatial tasks. Congenitally blind participants were significantly better than sighted controls on all the verbal tasks but the groups did not differ significantly on the spatial tasks. Thus, the congenitally blind appear to have superior verbal, but not spatial, abilities. This may reflect greater reliance on verbal information and the involvement of visual cortex in language processing in the congenitally blind.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Occelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA.
authors.forename: Simon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lacey
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA.|Rehabilitation R&D Center for Visual and Neurocognitive Rehabilitation, Atlanta VAMC, Decatur, GA, USA.
authors.forename: Careese
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stephens
authors.affiliation: The Laboratory for Visual Neuroplasticity, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.|Department of Ophthalmology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Lotfi B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Merabet
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, 30322, USA. krish.sathian@emory.edu.|Rehabilitation Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA. krish.sathian@emory.edu.|Psychology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA. krish.sathian@emory.edu.|Rehabilitation R&D Center for Visual and Neurocognitive Rehabilitation, Atlanta VAMC, Decatur, GA, USA. krish.sathian@emory.edu.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sathian
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001766:Blindness / Q000151:congenital* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007092:Imagination / Q000502:physiology*; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology*; D011939:Mental Recall / Q000502:physiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology*; D065852:Spatial Memory / Q000502:physiology*; D013067:Speech Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Digit span; Imagery; Memory; Spatial