10.1016/j.dcn.2021.100965
https://zenodo.org/records/5510146
oai:zenodo.org:5510146
Campus Claudio
Campus Claudio
0000-0002-7097-4500
Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia
Signorini Sabrina
Signorini Sabrina
Vitali Helene
Vitali Helene
De Giorgis Valentina
De Giorgis Valentina
Papalia Grazia
Papalia Grazia
Morelli Federica
Morelli Federica
Gori Monica
Gori Monica
0000-0002-5616-865X
Sensitive period for the plasticity of alpha activity in humans
Zenodo
2021
Blindness
Developmental trajectory of resting-state EEG
Cross-modal plasticity
Blind/severely visually impaired vs sighted infants and children
Alpha rhythm and impairment in blind/severely visually
Impaired infants and children
Impaired infants and children
2021-09-15
10.5281/zenodo.5547291
https://zenodo.org/communities/myspace
https://zenodo.org/communities/eu
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Visual experience is crucial for the development of neural processing. For example, alpha activity development is a vision-dependent mechanism. Indeed, studies report no alpha activity is present in blind adults. Nevertheless, studies have not investigated the developmental trajectory of this activity in infants and children with blindness. Here, we hypothesize that the difference in neural activity of blind compared to sighted subjects is: absent at birth, progressive with age, specifically occipital and linked to a gradual motor impairment. Therefore, we consider spectral power of resting-state EEG and its association with motor impairment indices, in blind subjects and in sighted controls between 0 and 11 years of age. Blind subjects show posterior alpha activity during the first three years of life, although weaker and slower maturing compared to sighted subjects. The first great differentiation between blind and sighted subjects occurs between 3 and 6 years of age. Starting in this period, reduced alpha activity increases the probability of motor impairment in blind subjects, likely because of impaired perception/interaction. These results show that visual experience mediates the neural mechanisms generating alpha oscillations during the first years of life, suggesting that it is a sensitive period for the plasticity of this process.
European Commission
10.13039/501100000780
948349
The role of vision on perceptual space representation