Distinct neural pathway and its information flow for blind individual's Braille reading.

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  • Additional Information
    • Source:
      Publisher: Academic Press Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 9215515 Publication Model: Print-Electronic Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1095-9572 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 10538119 NLM ISO Abbreviation: Neuroimage Subsets: MEDLINE
    • Publication Information:
      Original Publication: Orlando, FL : Academic Press, c1992-
    • Subject Terms:
      Reading* ; Blindness*/physiopathology ; Blindness*/diagnostic imaging ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging* ; Occipital Lobe*/physiology ; Occipital Lobe*/diagnostic imaging ; Neural Pathways*/physiology; Humans ; Female ; Male ; Adult ; Middle Aged ; Sensory Aids ; Visual Cortex/physiology ; Visual Cortex/diagnostic imaging ; Frontal Lobe/physiology ; Frontal Lobe/diagnostic imaging
    • Abstract:
      Natural Braille reading presents significant challenges to the brain networks of late blind individuals, yet its underlying neural mechanisms remain largely unexplored. Using natural Braille texts in behavioral assessments and functional MRI, we sought to pinpoint the neural pathway and information flow crucial for Braille reading performance in late blind individuals. In the resting state, we discovered a unique neural connection between the higher-order 'visual' cortex, the lateral occipital cortex (LOC), and the inferior frontal cortex (IFC) in late blind individuals, but not in sighted controls. The left-lateralized LOC-IFC connectivity was correlated with individual Braille reading proficiency. Prolonged Braille reading practice led to increased strength of this connectivity. During a natural Braille reading task, bidirectional information flow between the LOC and the IFC was positively modulated, with a predominantly stronger top-down modulation from the IFC to the LOC. This stronger top-down modulation contributed to higher Braille reading proficiency. We thus proposed a two-predictor multiple regression model to predict individual Braille reading proficiency, incorporating both static connectivity and dynamic top-down communication between the LOC-IFC link. This work highlights the dual contributions of the occipito-frontal neural pathway and top-down cognitive strategy to superior natural Braille reading performance, offering guidance for training late blind individuals.
      Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest We claim no conflict of interest.
      (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)
    • Contributed Indexing:
      Keywords: Functional connectivity; Individual differences; Late blindness; Natural Braille reading; Top-down modulation
    • Publication Date:
      Date Created: 20240912 Date Completed: 20241010 Latest Revision: 20241010
    • Publication Date:
      20241011
    • Accession Number:
      10.1016/j.neuroimage.2024.120852
    • Accession Number:
      39265958