Intramodal cortical plastic changes after moderate visual impairment in human amblyopia
Matin Mortazavi,
Kiera Aigner,
Jessica E. Antono,
Christina Gambacorta,
Mor Nahum,
Dennis M. Levi,
Julia Föcker
Affiliations
Matin Mortazavi
Department of Radiology, University Hospital LMU, Nussbaumstr. 7, 80336 Munich, Germany; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Hospital LMU, Nussbaumstr. 7, 80336 Munich, Germany
Kiera Aigner
Department of Psychology, Research Unit Clinical Neuropsychology, Ludwig Maximilians-University Munich, 80802 Munich, Germany
Jessica E. Antono
Perception and Cognition Lab, European Neuroscience Institute Göttingen: A Joint Initiative of the University Medical Center Göttingen and the Max-Planck-Society, Göttingen, Germany
Christina Gambacorta
Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry and Vision Science and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkley, Berkley, CA 94720-2020, USA
Mor Nahum
School of Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University, 9124001 Jerusalem, Israel
Dennis M. Levi
Herbert Wertheim School of Optometry and Vision Science and Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute, University of California, Berkley, Berkley, CA 94720-2020, USA
Julia Föcker
School of Psychology, College of Social Science University of Lincoln, Brayford Pool, LN6 7TS, Lincoln, UK; Corresponding author
Summary: Early blindness results in alterations in the neural responses to auditory stimuli. Here we show that even moderately reduced vision in one eye early in life is sufficient to induce neural plastic changes in voice processing. We asked individuals with reduced visual acuity in one eye due to amblyopia to attend to vocal cues during electroencephalogram recording. We found enhanced frontal auditory responses at 125 ms–225 ms, which were correlated with reduced vision in the amblyopic eye, but not the fellow eye. Our results indicate intramodal reorganization, typically observed after congenital profound visual deprivation.
