The Human Dorsal Action Control System Develops in the Absence of
Vision
Cerebral Cortex, Advance Access, (2008)Abstract
The primate dorsal pathway has been proposed to compute vision
for action. Although recent findings suggest that dorsal pathway
structures contribute to somatosensory action control as well, it
is
yet not clear whether or not the development of dorsal pathway
functions depends on early visual experience. Using functional
magnetic resonance imaging, we investigated the pattern of
cortical activation in congenitally blind and matched blindfolded
sighted adults while performing kinesthetically guided hand movements.
Congenitally blind adults activated similar dorsal pathway
structures as sighted controls. Group-specific activations were
found in the extrastriate cortex and the auditory cortex for
congenitally blind humans and in the precuneus and the
presupplementary motor area for sighted humans. Dorsal pathway
activity was in addition observed for working memory maintenance
of kinesthetic movement information in both groups. Thus, the
results suggest that dorsal pathway functions develop in the
absence of vision. This favors the idea of a general mechanism of
movement control that operates regardless of the sensory input
modality. Group differences in cortical activation patterns imply
different movement control strategies as a function of visual
experience.
Description
diverse cognitive systems bib