PDF(Pubmed)
Abstract：
The primary visual cortex (V1) in blindness is engaged in a wide spectrum of tasks and sensory modalities, including audition, touch, language, and memory. This widespread involvement raises questions regarding the constancy of its role and whether it might exhibit flexibility in its function over time, connecting to diverse network functions specific to task demands. This would suggest that reorganized V1 assumes a role like multiple-demand system regions. Alternatively, varying patterns of plasticity in blind V1 may be attributed to individual factors, with different blind individuals recruiting V1 preferentially for different functions. In support of this, we recently showed that V1 functional connectivity (FC) varies greatly across blind individuals. But do these represent stable individual patterns of plasticity, or are they driven more by instantaneous changes, like a multiple-demand system now inhabiting V1? Here, we tested whether individual FC patterns from the V1 of blind individuals are stable over time. We show that over two years, FC from the V1 is unique and highly stable in a small sample of repeatedly sampled congenitally blind individuals. Further, using multivoxel pattern analysis, we demonstrate that the unique reorganization patterns of these individuals allow decoding of participant identity. Together with recent evidence for substantial individual differences in V1 connectivity, this indicates that there may be a consistent role for V1 in blindness, which may differ for each individual. Further, it suggests that the variability in visual reorganization in blindness across individuals could be used to seek stable neuromarkers for sight rehabilitation and assistive approaches.
摘要：
失明的初级视觉皮层（V1）从事广泛的任务和感觉模式，包括试镜,触摸,语言,和记忆。这种广泛的参与引发了人们对其作用的恒定性以及随着时间的推移其功能是否会表现出灵活性的质疑，连接到特定于任务需求的不同网络功能。这表明重组后的V1承担了类似于多需求系统区域的角色。或者，盲V1中可塑性的不同模式可能归因于个别因素，不同的盲人优先为不同的功能招募V1。为了支持这一点,我们最近发现，V1功能连接（FC）在盲人中差异很大。但是这些代表了稳定的个体可塑性模式，或者它们更多地受到瞬时变化的驱动，就像现在居住在V1的多需求系统？这里，我们测试了来自失明个体V1的个体FC模式是否随时间稳定。我们表明，在两年多的时间里，来自V1的FC在重复采样的先天性盲个体的小样本中是独特且高度稳定的。Further,使用多体素模式分析，我们证明了这些个体的独特重组模式允许对参与者身份进行解码。加上最近关于V1连通性的实质性个体差异的证据，这表明V1在失明中可能有一致的作用，每个人都可能不同。Further,这表明，在不同个体的失明中，视觉重组的变异性可用于寻求稳定的神经标记，用于视力康复和辅助方法。
