Auditory Triggered Mental Imagery of Shape Involves Visual Association Areas in Early Blind Humans

Volder, Anne De; Toyama, Hinako; Kimura, Yuichi; Kiyosawa, Motohiro; Nakano, Hitoo; Vanlierde, Annick; Wanet-Defalque, Marie-Chantal; Mishina, Masayoshi; Oda, Kazuhiro; Ishiwata, Kiichi; Senda, Michio

doi:10.1006/nimg.2001.0782

Cited by 128 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Our approach differs from previous studies investigating object processing in blind individuals, as these studies tested for activity increases associated with the active exploration of objects (through tactile or auditory input) relative to control conditions. These studies provided evidence that regions of the high-level visual cortex of congenitally/early blind individuals are activated in response to objects conveyed by sounds (De Volder et al, 2001), touch (Amedi et al, 2010), echolocation (Arnott et al, 2013), or through visual-to-auditory sensory substitution soundscapes (Amedi et al, 2007). One consistent finding from these studies was evidence for a region in lateral occipital cortex (Amedi et al, 2002(Amedi et al, , 2007(Amedi et al, , 2010) that responds significantly more strongly to exploration of objects than to exploration of textures, to hand movements, or to retrieval of object knowledge (e.g., listening to object names, as in the present study).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Nonvisual and Visual Object Shape Representations in Occipitotemporal Cortex: Evidence from Congenitally Blind and Sighted Adults

Peelen

Han

et al. 2013

J. Neurosci.

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Knowledge of object shape is primarily acquired through the visual modality but can also be acquired through other sensory modalities. In the present study, we investigated the representation of object shape in humans without visual experience. Congenitally blind and sighted participants rated the shape similarity of pairs of 33 familiar objects, referred to by their names. The resulting shape similarity matrices were highly similar for the two groups, indicating that knowledge of the objects' shapes was largely independent of visual experience. Using fMRI, we tested for brain regions that represented object shape knowledge in blind and sighted participants. Multivoxel activity patterns were established for each of the 33 aurally presented object names. Sighted participants additionally viewed pictures of these objects. Using representational similarity analysis, neural similarity matrices were related to the behavioral shape similarity matrices. Results showed that activity patterns in occipitotemporal cortex (OTC) regions, including inferior temporal (IT) cortex and functionally defined object-selective cortex (OSC), reflected the behavioral shape similarity ratings in both blind and sighted groups, also when controlling for the objects' tactile and semantic similarity. Furthermore, neural similarity matrices of IT and OSC showed similarities across blind and sighted groups (within the auditory modality) and across modality (within the sighted group), but not across both modality and group (blind auditory-sighted visual). Together, these findings provide evidence that OTC not only represents objects visually (requiring visual experience) but also represents objects nonvisually, reflecting knowledge of object shape independently of the modality through which this knowledge was acquired.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Nonvisual and Visual Object Shape Representations in Occipitotemporal Cortex: Evidence from Congenitally Blind and Sighted Adults

Peelen

Han

et al. 2013

J. Neurosci.

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“…If this is the case, it might be an example of the general principle that information is translated into the format that fits the most adept modality (Freides, 1974). In this context, it is pertinent that the LOC is active during visual imagery of object shape in sighted participants (De Volder et al, 2001). However, some have argued against visual imagery as the basis for LOC engagement during haptic shape perception, favoring instead the idea of a multisensory shape representation (Amedi et al, 2002;Amedi et al, 2001;James et al, 2002).…”

Section: Why Are Visual Cortical Areas Involved In Normal Tactile Permentioning

confidence: 98%

Visual cortical activity during tactile perception in the sighted and the visually deprived

Sathian

2005

Developmental Psychobiology

155

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This article reviews studies demonstrating activity in visual cortex during tactile perception in sighted participants as well as in those who have experienced visual deprivation of varying duration. This field has been very active over the last few years, with the result that a number of exciting findings have emerged, but a unifying framework is still lacking. The first section of this article deals with investigations revealing that visual cortical activity is regularly associated with the neural processing of tactile inputs in normally sighted individuals. Next, the possible reasons underlying such visual cortical recruitment are considered. The focus then shifts to the effects of visual deprivation, examining the involvement of visual cortex in sensory and language processing in the early and late blind. The final section gives an account of studies suggesting that a remarkable degree of plasticity can be observed even after quite short-lasting visual deprivation. Overall, it appears that the nature of visual cortical activity during nonvisual tasks in the sighted can be influenced by late-onset blindness and even by brief interruptions of visual input; however, the relevant neural plasticity seems to considerably more exuberant if vision is lost very early in life or was never present, which suggests that there is a critical period for the maximal expression of such plasticity.

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“…This can be viewed as a specific instantiation of a general principle that information is translated into the format appropriate for the most adept modality, as was proposed 3 decades ago (Freides, 1974). Clear activity has, in fact, been found in the left LOC during mental imagery of object shape based on prior visual exposure in sighted subjects and haptic exposure in blind subjects (De Volder et al, 2001). On the other hand, some have argued against visual imagery as the basis for visual cortical engagement (Amedi et al, 2002;Amedi et al, 2001;James et al, 2002), since auditory objects (Amedi et al, 2002) and visual imagery (Amedi et al, 2001) fail to evoke substantial activity in the LOC, as compared with haptic or visual object perception.…”

Section: Relation Of Multisensory Activity To Visual Imagerymentioning

confidence: 98%

Multisensory cortical processing of object shape and its relation to mental imagery

Zhang

Weisser

Stilla

et al. 2004

Cognitive, Affective, & Behavioral Neuroscience

152

113

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Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the multisensory processing of object shape in the human cerebral cortex and explored the role of mental imagery in such processing. Regions active bilaterally during both visual and haptic shape perception, relative to texture perception in the respective modality, included parts of the superior parietal gyrus, the anterior intraparietal sulcus, and the lateral occipital complex. Of these bimodal regions, the lateral occipital complexes preferred visual over haptic stimuli, whereas the parietal areas preferred haptic over visual stimuli. Whereas most subjects reported little haptic imagery during visual shape perception, experiences of visual imagery during haptic shape perception were common. Across subjects, ratings of the vividness of visual imagery strongly predicted the amount of haptic shape-selective activity in the right, but not in the left, lateral occipital complex. Thus, visual imagery appears to contribute to activation of some, but not all, visual cortical areas during haptic perception.

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Auditory Triggered Mental Imagery of Shape Involves Visual Association Areas in Early Blind Humans

Cited by 128 publications

References 47 publications

Nonvisual and Visual Object Shape Representations in Occipitotemporal Cortex: Evidence from Congenitally Blind and Sighted Adults

Nonvisual and Visual Object Shape Representations in Occipitotemporal Cortex: Evidence from Congenitally Blind and Sighted Adults

Visual cortical activity during tactile perception in the sighted and the visually deprived

Multisensory cortical processing of object shape and its relation to mental imagery

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