Kauffman Thomas, Théoret Hugo, Pascual-Leone Alvaro
Laboratory for Magnetic Brain Stimulation, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, 330 Brookline Ave, KS-454, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Neuroreport. 2002 Apr 16;13(5):571-4. doi: 10.1097/00001756-200204160-00007.
Visual deprivation may lead to enhanced performance in other sensory modalities. Whether this is the case in the tactile modality is controversial and may depend upon specific training and experience. We compared the performance of sighted subjects on a Braille character discrimination task to that of normal individuals blindfolded for a period of five days. Some participants in each group (blindfolded and sighted) received intensive Braille training to offset the effects of experience. Blindfolded subjects performed better than sighted subjects in the Braille discrimination task, irrespective of tactile training. For the left index finger, which had not been used in the formal Braille classes, blindfolding had no effect on performance while subjects who underwent tactile training outperformed non-stimulated participants. These results suggest that visual deprivation speeds up Braille learning and may be associated with behaviorally relevant neuroplastic changes.
视觉剥夺可能会导致其他感觉模态的表现增强。在触觉模态中是否如此存在争议，并且可能取决于特定的训练和经验。我们将有视力的受试者在盲文文字辨别任务中的表现与正常个体蒙眼五天后的表现进行了比较。每组（蒙眼组和有视力组）中的一些参与者接受了强化盲文训练，以抵消经验的影响。在盲文辨别任务中，蒙眼受试者的表现优于有视力的受试者，无论是否接受触觉训练。对于在正式盲文课程中未使用过的左手食指，蒙眼对表现没有影响，而接受触觉训练的受试者表现优于未受刺激的参与者。这些结果表明，视觉剥夺会加速盲文学习，并且可能与行为相关的神经可塑性变化有关。
