Auditory spatial and memory processing in the blind

Early loss of vision is accompanied by widespread cross-modal changes in the brain, in that ‘visual’ areas of the brain show responses to nonvisual stimuli. This raises the possibility of using the reorganization associated with vision loss to investigate how auditory events may be encoded and retrieved from memory. The proposed project will examine the relationship between vision loss and memory and spatial auditory processing, using both behaviour and imaging methodology. In part 1, we will recruit congenitally blind participants and age-matched controls to an internet-based study in order to assess their memory for sound objects and sound location. In part 2, we will test a subset of congenitally blind individuals on their auditory memory and spatial abilities and relate their performance to previously acquired structural and functional data obtained from these participants. Results from these studies will offer a refined and more general description of brain plasticity in congenitally blind individuals and should provide key features of organizational processes.

Faculty Supervisor:

Morris Moskovitch

Student:

Partner:

University of Oxford

Discipline:

Life Sciences

Sector:

Life Sciences (not health); Technology; Health and Related Sciences & Technology

University:

University of Toronto

Program: