Laboratory for Magnetic Brain Stimulation, Department of Neurology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School, Boston MA 02215, USA.
Trends Cogn Sci. 1998 May 1;2(5):168-74. doi: 10.1016/s1364-6613(98)01172-3.
Blind subjects who learn to read Braille must acquire the ability to extract spatial information from subtle tactile stimuli. In order to accomplish this, neuroplastic changes appear to take place. During Braille learning, the sensorimotor cortical area devoted to the representation of the reading finger enlarges. This enlargement follows a two-step process that can be demonstrated with transcranial magnetic stimulation mapping and suggests initial unmasking of existing connections and eventual establishment of more stable structural changes. In addition, Braille learning appears to be associated with the recruitment of parts of the occipital, formerly `visual', cortex (V1 and V2) for tactile information processing. In blind, proficient Braille readers, the occipital cortex can be shown not only to be associated with tactile Braille reading but also to be critical for reading accuracy. Recent studies suggest the possibility of applying non-invasive neurophysiological techniques to guide and improve functional outcomes of these plastic changes. Such interventions might provide a means of accelerating functional adjustment to blindness.
盲文阅读者必须习得从细微的触觉刺激中提取空间信息的能力。为了实现这一点，神经可塑性变化似乎发生了。在学习盲文时，用于表示阅读手指的感觉运动皮层区域扩大。这种扩大遵循两步过程，可以通过经颅磁刺激映射来证明，表明最初揭示了现有连接，最终建立了更稳定的结构变化。此外，盲文学习似乎与枕叶（V1 和 V2）的一部分的募集有关，这些部分以前是“视觉”的，用于触觉信息处理。在熟练的盲文阅读者中，不仅可以显示枕叶皮层与触觉盲文阅读有关，而且对阅读准确性也很关键。最近的研究表明，应用非侵入性神经生理学技术来指导和改善这些可塑性变化的功能结果是可能的。这种干预可能为加速对失明的功能调整提供一种手段。
