ABSTRACT
The study of blind individuals has revealed the exquisite ability of the human brain to reorganize following peripheral injury. Although it has long been believed that such plastic events were dependent on irreversible sensory deprivation occurring during a specific developmental period, recent evidence suggest that under certain experimental conditions, sensory interactions can be modified, thereby “creating” cross-modal plasticity. The idea that short-term behavioral interventions can modify brain organization could have far-reaching applications for conditions such as dyslexia. Here, we review the pertinent literature relating to plasticity in the brain of blind individuals and describe recent experiments conducted in our laboratory that show the surprising ability of the adult brain cortex to adapt to sensory deprivation.
