Crossmodal Reorganization in the Early Deaf Switches Sensory, but Not Behavioral Roles of Auditory Cortex
Crossmodal reorganization in the early deaf switches sensory, but not behavioral roles of auditory cortex M. Alex Mereditha,1, James Kryklywyb, Amee J. McMillanb, Shveta Malhotrab, Ryan Lum-Taib, and Stephen G. Lomberb aDepartment of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine, Richmond, VA 23298; and bCentre for Brain and Mind, Department of Physiology and Pharmacology and Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, ON Canada N6A 5C2 Edited* by Jon H. Kaas, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, and approved April 13, 2011 (received for review December 9, 2010) It is well known that early disruption of sensory input from one innervate (17) the primary auditory cortex. In contrast, early modality can induce crossmodal reorganization of a deprived deafness induces visual reorganization of the posterior auditory cortical area, resulting in compensatory abilities in the remaining field and the dorsal auditory zone (11). The factors that select senses. Compensatory effects, however, occur in selected cortical a deprived region for reorganization, and the specific sensory regions and it is not known whether such compensatory phenom- modalities to be involved, are unknown. One clue might be the ena have any relation to the original function of the reorganized observation that the posterior auditory field of hearing animals is area. In the cortex of hearing cats, the auditory field of the involved in auditory localization (18) whereas the same region in anterior ectosylvian sulcus (FAES) is largely responsive to acoustic congenitally deaf animals underlies their improvement in visual stimulation and its unilateral deactivation results in profound localization of peripheral targets (11). Similarly, following early contralateral acoustic orienting deficits.
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