Ortiz Tomás, Poch Joaquín, Santos Juan M, Martínez Ana M, Ortiz-Terán Laura, Requena Carmen, Barcia Juan A, de Erausquin Gabriel A, Pascual-Leone Alvaro
a Departamento de Psiquiatría, Facultd de Medicina , Universidad Complutense , Madrid , Spain.
Neurocase. 2014 Jun;20(3):273-82. doi: 10.1080/13554794.2013.770878. Epub 2013 Jul 2.
Tactile vision has been approached from a variety of angles using different techniques. So far, a certain kind of object (and text) recognition has been shown, though seeing as such has not been achieved yet, and it remains unclear. Trough repetitive passive tactile stimulation perceptual processing is transferred from temporo-parietal to occipital areas, which affects object recognition. We report the results of passive tactile stimulation, as well as rTMS, applied to a 50 year old left handed blind male with over 97% loss of vision, who suffers from Peter's anomaly and microphthalmia. After 15 weeks of passive tactile stimulation, the subject showed increased activity in occipital areas associated with the development of visual-like perception which remained unchanged after three months without passive tactile stimulation. Inhibitory rTMS over the visual cortex led to noticeable reduction of spatial recognition performance and visual sensations in this subject. Stable changes in occipital cortical activity can be associated with subjective sensations of seeing. Once occipital activation has been achieved, it is necessary for spatial object recognition. Both facts highlight the implication of occipital areas in tactile vision and the cortical plasticity of passive tactile long-term stimulation in people with blindness.
人们已经从多个角度运用不同技术来研究触觉视觉。到目前为止，已经展示了某种物体（和文本）识别能力，尽管尚未实现真正意义上的视觉，但情况仍不明确。通过重复性被动触觉刺激，感知处理从颞顶叶区域转移到枕叶区域，这会影响物体识别。我们报告了对一名50岁的左利手盲人男性进行被动触觉刺激以及重复经颅磁刺激（rTMS）的结果，该男性视力丧失超过97%，患有彼得异常和小眼症。经过15周的被动触觉刺激后，受试者枕叶区域的活动增加，这与类似视觉感知的发展相关，在停止被动触觉刺激三个月后这种情况仍未改变。对视觉皮层进行抑制性rTMS导致该受试者的空间识别能力和视觉感觉显著下降。枕叶皮层活动的稳定变化可能与视觉主观感受有关。一旦实现枕叶激活，对于空间物体识别是必要的。这两个事实都凸显了枕叶区域在触觉视觉中的作用以及被动触觉长期刺激对盲人皮质可塑性的影响。
