Tao Qian, Chan Chetwyn C H, Luo Yue-Jia, Li Jian-Jun, Ting Kin-Hung, Lu Zhong-Lin, Whitfield-Gabrieli Susan, Wang Jun, Lee Tatia M C
Psychology Department, School of Medicine, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
Applied Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong.
Brain Topogr. 2017 May;30(3):364-379. doi: 10.1007/s10548-017-0549-z. Epub 2017 Feb 4.
Cross-modal learning requires the use of information from different sensory modalities. This study investigated how the prior visual experience of late blind individuals could modulate neural processes associated with learning of sound localization. Learning was realized by standardized training on sound localization processing, and experience was investigated by comparing brain activations elicited from a sound localization task in individuals with (late blind, LB) and without (early blind, EB) prior visual experience. After the training, EB showed decreased activation in the precuneus, which was functionally connected to a limbic-multisensory network. In contrast, LB showed the increased activation of the precuneus. A subgroup of LB participants who demonstrated higher visuospatial working memory capabilities (LB-HVM) exhibited an enhanced precuneus-lingual gyrus network. This differential connectivity suggests that visuospatial working memory due to the prior visual experience gained via LB-HVM enhanced learning of sound localization. Active visuospatial navigation processes could have occurred in LB-HVM compared to the retrieval of previously bound information from long-term memory for EB. The precuneus appears to play a crucial role in learning of sound localization, disregarding prior visual experience. Prior visual experience, however, could enhance cross-modal learning by extending binding to the integration of unprocessed information, mediated by the cognitive functions that these experiences develop.
跨模态学习需要使用来自不同感官模态的信息。本研究调查了晚期失明个体的先前视觉经验如何调节与声音定位学习相关的神经过程。通过对声音定位处理进行标准化训练来实现学习,并通过比较有(晚期失明,LB)和没有(早期失明,EB)先前视觉经验的个体在声音定位任务中引发的大脑激活来研究经验。训练后,EB在楔前叶的激活减少,楔前叶在功能上与边缘 - 多感官网络相连。相比之下,LB的楔前叶激活增加。表现出较高视觉空间工作记忆能力的LB参与者亚组(LB - HVM)表现出楔前叶 - 舌回网络增强。这种差异连接表明,由于通过LB - HVM获得的先前视觉经验,视觉空间工作记忆增强了声音定位的学习。与EB从长期记忆中检索先前绑定的信息相比,LB - HVM中可能发生了主动的视觉空间导航过程。无论先前的视觉经验如何,楔前叶似乎在声音定位学习中起关键作用。然而,先前的视觉经验可以通过将绑定扩展到未处理信息的整合来增强跨模态学习,这是由这些经验所发展的认知功能介导的。