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Brain Advance Access originally published online on October 14, 2008
Brain 2008 131(11):2995-3005; doi:10.1093/brain/awn250
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© The Author (2008). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Wayfinding in the blind: larger hippocampal volume and supranormal spatial navigation

Madeleine Fortin1, Patrice Voss1, Catherine Lord2, Maryse Lassonde1,3, Jens Pruessner2, Dave Saint-Amour1,3,4, Constant Rainville5,6 and Franco Lepore1,3,5

1Centre de Recherche en Neuropsychologie et Cognition, Université de Montréal, 2Douglas Hospital Research Center, McGill University, 3Centre de recherche, CHU Sainte-Justine, 4Département d’Ophtalmologie, Université de Montréal, 5Centre de Recherche de l’Institut Universitaire de Gériatrie de Montréal and 6Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation, Montréal, Québec, Canada

Correspondence to: Franco Lepore, Centre de Recherche en Neuropsychologie et Cognition, Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, Case Postale 6128, Succursale Centre-ville, Montréal, Québec, Canada, H3C 3J7 E-mail: franco.lepore{at}umontreal.ca

In the absence of visual input, the question arises as to how complex spatial abilities develop and how the brain adapts to the absence of this modality. We explored navigational skills in both early and late blind individuals and structural differences in the hippocampus, a brain region well known to be involved in spatial processing. Thirty-eight participants were divided into three groups: early blind individuals (n = 12; loss of vision before 5 years of age; mean age 33.8 years), late blind individuals (n = 7; loss of vision after 14 years of age; mean age 39.9 years) and 19 sighted, blindfolded matched controls. Subjects undertook route learning and pointing tasks in a maze and a spatial layout task. Anatomical data was collected by MRI. Remarkably, we not only show that blind individuals possess superior navigational skills than controls on the route learning task, but we also show for the first time a significant volume increase of the hippocampus in blind individuals [F(1,36) = 6.314; P ≤ 0.01; blind: mean = 4237.00 mm3, SE = 107.53; sighted: mean = 3905.74 mm3, SE = 76.27], irrespective of whether their blindness was congenital or acquired. Overall, our results shed new light not only on the construction of spatial concepts and the non-necessity of vision for its proper development, but also on the hippocampal plasticity observed in adult blind individuals who have to navigate in this space.

Key Words: blindness; hippocampus; maze tasks; plasticity; volumetric MRI

Received March 10, 2008. Revised August 12, 2008. Accepted September 4, 2008.


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