Patrice Voss: Cross-modal plasticity in blindness

Patrice Voss: Cross-modal plasticity in blindness. A CRBLM symposium

Abstract:

The scientific literature has grown rich in research illustrating the remarkable ability of the brain to reorganize itself following sensory loss. This talk will cover much of the work we have undertaken working with blind individuals in an attempt to better understand not only the behavioral consequences of blindness but also its impact on brain function and organization. From a behavioral perspective, this will particularly touch on the spatial hearing abilities as well as the pitch/spectral processing abilities of the blind which are generally found to be superior to what is observed in sighted individuals. I will present a series of findings that strongly suggest that these abilities are largely dependent on the organization of, and the functions carried out within, visually deafferented occipital structures.

Bio

Patrice Voss received his PhD degree in psychology in 2009 from the University of Montreal, working under the supervision of Dr Franco Lepore.  He is currently a McGill post-doctoral researcher working with Dr Robert Zatorre at the MNI and BRAMS. Using several brain imaging tools (fMRI, DTI, VBM) and several behavioral variables (sound localization, pitch and melody discrimination), his research aims to identify the functional and anatomical correlates of enhanced auditory and tactile abilities observed in blind individuals, and to better ascertain the specific impact of the age of onset of blindness on both the brain and behavioral adaptations.