Brain, Vol 121, Issue 7 1213-1229, Copyright © 1998 by Oxford University Press
N Sadato, A Pascual-Leone, J Grafman, MP Deiber, V Ibanez and M Hallett
To explore the neural networks used for Braille reading, we measured
regional cerebral blood flow with PET during tactile tasks performed both
by Braille readers blinded early in life and by sighted subjects. Eight
proficient Braille readers were studied during Braille reading with both
right and left index fingers. Eight-character, non-contracted
Braille-letter strings were used, and subjects were asked to discriminate
between words and non-words. To compare the behaviour of the brain of the
blind and the sighted directly, non-Braille tactile tasks were performed by
six different blind subjects and 10 sighted control subjects using the
right index finger. The tasks included a non- discrimination task and three
discrimination tasks (angle, width and character). Irrespective of reading
finger (right or left), Braille reading by the blind activated the inferior
parietal lobule, primary visual cortex, superior occipital gyri, fusiform
gyri, ventral premotor area, superior parietal lobule, cerebellum and
primary sensorimotor area bilaterally, also the right dorsal premotor
cortex, right middle occipital gyrus and right prefrontal area. During
non-Braille discrimination tasks, in blind subjects, the ventral occipital
regions, including the primary visual cortex and fusiform gyri bilaterally
were activated while the secondary somatosensory area was deactivated. The
reverse pattern was found in sighted subjects where the secondary
somatosensory area was activated while the ventral occipital regions were
suppressed. These findings suggest that the tactile processing pathways
usually linked in the secondary somatosensory area are rerouted in blind
subjects to the ventral occipital cortical regions originally reserved for
visual shape discrimination.
ARTICLES
Neural networks for Braille reading by the blind
Human Motor Control Section, Medical Neurology Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892-1428, USA.
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