Guerreiro Maria J S, Erfort Maria V, Henssler Jonathan, Putzar Lisa, Röder Brigitte
Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, Institute for Psychology, University of Hamburg, Hamburg, D-20146, Germany.
Department of Psychology, Carl Von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, D-26111, Germany.
Hum Brain Mapp. 2015 Dec;36(12):5265-74. doi: 10.1002/hbm.23009. Epub 2015 Sep 29.
Individuals who are born blind due to dense bilateral cataracts and who later regain vision due to cataract surgery provide a unique model to evaluate the effect of early sensory experience in humans. In recent years, several studies have started to assess the functional consequences of early visual deprivation in these individuals, revealing a number of behavioral impairments in visual and multisensory functions. In contrast, the extent to which a transient period of congenital visual deprivation impacts brain structure has not yet been investigated. The present study investigated this by assessing cortical thickness of occipital areas in a group of six cataract-reversal individuals and a group of six age-matched normally sighted controls. This analysis revealed higher cortical thickness in cataract-reversal individuals in the left calcarine sulcus, in the superior occipital gyrus and in the transverse occipital sulcus bilaterally. In addition, occipital cortical thickness correlated negatively with behavioral performance in an audio-visual task for which visual input was critical, and positively with behavioral performance in auditory tasks. Together, these results underscore the critical role of early sensory experience in shaping brain structure and suggest that increased occipital cortical thickness, while potentially compensatory for auditory sensory processing, might be maladaptive for visual recovery in cases of sight restoration.
因双侧致密性白内障而天生失明、后因白内障手术恢复视力的个体，为评估人类早期感官体验的影响提供了一个独特模型。近年来，多项研究已开始评估这些个体早期视觉剥夺的功能后果，揭示出视觉和多感官功能方面的一些行为障碍。相比之下，先天性视觉剥夺的短暂时期对脑结构的影响程度尚未得到研究。本研究通过评估一组6名白内障复明个体和一组6名年龄匹配的正常视力对照者枕叶区域的皮质厚度来对此进行研究。该分析显示，白内障复明个体双侧的左侧距状沟、枕上回和枕横沟的皮质厚度更高。此外，在视觉输入至关重要的视听任务中，枕叶皮质厚度与行为表现呈负相关，而在听觉任务中与行为表现呈正相关。这些结果共同强调了早期感官体验在塑造脑结构中的关键作用，并表明枕叶皮质厚度增加虽然可能对听觉感官处理具有补偿作用，但在视力恢复的情况下可能对视觉恢复具有不良适应性。
