Neuroplasticity

Unlocked The Super Power of PWDs

According to scientific theory, PWDs' brains function distinctively because the unused brain area enhances the performance of the other portions of the brain. Brain Rewired or Neuroplasticity was the name given to this theory.

According to Massachusetts eye and ear Infirmary institution, the visual cortex of blind people whose absence in visual information connects with the auditory cortex to strengthen a sense of hearing. This theory was confirmed with the statement of lead author Corinna M. Bauer, Ph.D., as we have cited his statement below

Our results demonstrate that the structural and functional neuroplastic brain changes occurring as a result of early ocular blindness may be more widespread than initially thought,” said lead author Corinna M. Bauer, Ph.D., a scientist at Schepens Eye Research Institute of Mass. Eye and Ear and an instructor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. “We observed significant changes not only in the occipital cortex (where vision is processed), but also areas implicated in memory, language processing, and sensory motor functions.”

Vulcan also conducts the field study with 30 blind students in Thammasat University. Our researcher assigned them to perform voice labeling in a limited time. Each blind student listened to voice data length about 5-10 minutes and 30 minutes and type what they had heard in a sentence. To benchmark the experiment with non-visual impaired people, our team invited 30 volunteers to attend the same experiment. Interestingly, the blind group outperformed the volunteers group because they could complete the task 2 times faster than the volunteers.

This experiment combined with Brian Rewired Theory highlights the opportunity to enable blind individuals to utilize their super power which compensate for the absence of visual information.

Brain Rewires Itself to Enhance Other Senses in Blind PeopleNeuroscience News

In deaf cats, the brain's visual cells migrate to the hearing region, as seen in set of diagrams.

Moreover, an auditory cortex in deaf groups also proliferates their peripheral vision and motion because their auditory cortex rewired to enhance visual cortex’s ability. Christina Karns, Neville, and Mark Dow of the University of Oregon have conducted several experiments to evaluate the sense of seeing in deaf, resulting in the conclusion that deaf people could notice the complicated detail of the visual information more accurately than non-deaf counterparts.

Furthermore, Another research from Dr Charlotte Codina and Dr David Buckley University's Academic Unit of Ophthalmology and Orthoptics find the difference of Deaf’ retina. Normally, retina in humans will focus in the central area, but the deaf retina spreads in many spots which expands the peripheral vision ability to detect objects from the side.

Last but not least, we would like to mention the Autistic Brain from Laurent Mottron who has been studying this topic for more than 10 years. According to his paper, some types of autistic have the remarkable ability to remember the pattern. Mottron and his team conduct the pattern recognition experiment by initiate a test containing 5 type of patterns which are listed below: -

1. collectible systems (e.g. distinguishing between types of stones or wood)

2. mechanical systems (e.g. a video recorder or a window lock)

3. numerical systems (e.g. a train timetable or a calendar)

4. abstract systems (e.g. the syntax of a language or musical notation)

5. natural systems (e.g. the weather patterns or tidal wave patterns)

The result of that experiment indicates the ability to recognize patterns and detail in the autistic that could benefit in technology companies.

References

• Marcin Szwed (2017) Whether the hearing brain hears it or the deaf brain see it, it's just the same. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LiZMmBu-p5hbHKtDoaXhJMD8suE984qu/view?usp=sharing

• Marina Bedny (2015) "Visual" cortex responds to spoken language in blind children. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1veKuOk9gEZ6WE33h3uHbdx5T4c_FBApr/view?usp=sharing

• Lore Thaler (2011) Neural correlates of natural human echolocation in early and late blind echolocation experts. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1juOOux61Paq7isdBkaFNXNN5hLa1DDM0/view?usp=sharing

• Jessica (R) Newton (2005) Rewiring cortex: Functional plasticity of the auditory cortex during development. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rflBCy5KT2mlRZ3yctJmzLAGAA9KJBbo/view?usp=sharing

• Anna W. Roe (1992) Visual projections routed to the auditory pathway in ferrets: Receptive fields of visual neurons in primary auditory cortex. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qXOPrF-l4sNJRnX3FXPVCEJYFpKxIxeF/view?usp=sharing

• Shipra Kanjlia (2018) Sensitive period for cognitive repurposing of human visual cortex. https://drive.google.com/file/d/11fPSF_yhvw0rL4oNAaFrouXjRSHovee1/view?usp=sharing

• (2018) Why are savant skills and special talents associated with autism? https://drive.google.com/file/d/15j8SDkR9tNubYwSMJkKqKAn7ueFndvCI/view?usp=sharing