Improvement and Decline in Tactile Discrimination Behavior after Cortical Plasticity Induced by Passive Tactile Coactivation

Hodzic, Amra; Veit, Ralf; Karim, Ahmed A.; Erb, Michael; Godde, Ben

doi:10.1523/jneurosci.3731-03.2004

Cited by 103 publications

(109 citation statements)

References 24 publications

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“…In direct contrast, the present study shows in a neuropathic pain condition that does not involve deafferentation, trigeminal neuropathy, the S1 representation representing the thumb moves away from that of the lip. Similarly, it has been reported that painful carpel tunnel syndrome is associated with an increased representation of the painful digits (Napadow et al, 2006) and use-dependent enlargements of cortical representations, including those in response to increased innocuous tactile stimulation, have been shown to occur in many sensory systems (Hodzic et al, 2004). In contrast, complex regional pain syndrome, a non-deafferented pain condition, is associated with contraction of the relevant cortical representation (Maihöfner et al, 2003;Pleger et al, 2004), although this condition involves significant decreases in the use of the painful region, which may itself affect S1 organization.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Pain and Plasticity: Is Chronic Pain Always Associated with Somatosensory Cortex Activity and Reorganization?

et al. 2012

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The somatosensory cortex remodels in response to sensory deprivation, with regions deprived of input invaded by neighboring representations. The degree of cortical reorganization is correlated with ongoing pain intensity, which has led to the assumption that chronic pain conditions are invariably associated with somatosensory cortex reorganization. Because the presentation and etiology of chronic pain vary, we determined whether cortical changes in human subjects are similar for differing pain types. Using functional and anatomical magnetic resonance imaging, we found that, while human patients with neuropathic pain displayed cortical reorganization and changes in somatosensory cortex activity, patients with non-neuropathic chronic pain did not. Furthermore, cortical reorganization in neuropathic pain patients was associated with changes in regional anatomy. These data, by showing that pain per se is not associated with cortical plasticity, suggest that treatments aimed at reversing cortical reorganization should only be considered for use in patients with certain types of chronic pain.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Pain and Plasticity: Is Chronic Pain Always Associated with Somatosensory Cortex Activity and Reorganization?

et al. 2012

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“…An interesting question for future research is whether, to produce lasting acuity enhancement, tactile experience must be accompanied by focused attention such as occurs during Braille reading and other purposeful tasks. In this regard, it is noteworthy that prolonged, unattended vibratory stimulation reversibly improves fingertip spatial acuity (Godde et al, 2000;Hodzic et al, 2004).…”

Section: Evidence That Tactile Experience Drives Acuity Enhancementmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Several lines of evidence link larger somatosensory cortical representations to better tactile spatial acuity. Three hours of low-frequency vibration applied to the index finger both enhanced spatial acuity and enlarged the finger's cortical representation (Hodzic et al, 2004). Although receptor density-at least for the relatively easily visualized Meissner corpuscles-is apparently conserved across digits (Dillon et al, 2001), the digits with a larger cortical representation also have better acuity (Duncan and Boynton, 2007).…”

Section: Possible Neural Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Tactile Spatial Acuity Enhancement in Blindness: Evidence for Experience-Dependent Mechanisms

Wong¹,

Gnanakumaran²,

Goldreich³

2011

J. Neurosci.

151

120

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Tactile spatial acuity is enhanced in blindness, according to several studies, but the cause of this enhancement has been controversial. Two competing hypotheses are the tactile experience hypothesis (reliance on the sense of touch drives tactile-acuity enhancement) and the visual deprivation hypothesis (the absence of vision itself drives tactile-acuity enhancement). Here, we performed experiments to distinguish between these two hypotheses. We used force-controlled grating orientation tasks to compare the passive (finger stationary) tactile spatial acuity of 28 profoundly blind and 55 normally sighted humans on the index, middle, and ring fingers of each hand, and on the lips. The tactile experience hypothesis predicted that blind participants would outperform the sighted on the fingers, and that Braille reading would correlate with tactile acuity. The visual deprivation hypothesis predicted that blind participants would outperform the sighted on fingers and lips. Consistent with the tactile experience hypothesis, the blind significantly outperformed the sighted on all fingers, but not on the lips. Additionally, among blind participants, proficient Braille readers on their preferred reading index finger outperformed nonreaders. Finally, proficient Braille readers performed better with their preferred reading index finger than with the opposite index finger, and their acuity on the preferred reading finger correlated with their weekly reading time. These results clearly implicate reliance on the sense of touch as the trigger for tactile spatial acuity enhancement in the blind, and suggest the action of underlying experience-dependent neural mechanisms such as somatosensory and/or cross-modal cortical plasticity.

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“…Wickens states that "extensive perceptual experience" and consistency of responses are necessary ingredients for a task to become automatic. Furthermore, extensive training helps to eliminate decrease in sensitivity [76] and improves task performance by improving tactile discrimination and increasing activation of the somatosensory cortical areas representing the stimulated body part [119].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enabling the blind to see gestures

Quek

Oliveira

2013

ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact.

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(ABSTRACT)Mathematics instruction and discourse typically involve two modes of communication: speech and graphical presentation. For the communication to remain situated, dynamic synchrony must be maintained between the speech and dynamic focus in the graphics. Sighted students use vision for two purposes: access to graphical material and awareness of embodied behavior. This embodiment awareness keeps communication situated with visual material and speech. Our goal is to assist students who are blind or visually impaired (SBVI) in the access to such instruction/communication. We employ the typical approach of sensory replacement for the missing visual sense. Haptic fingertip reading can replace visual material. We want to make the SBVI aware of the deictic gestures performed by the teacher over the graphic in conjunction with speech. We employ a haptic glove interface to facilitate this embodiment awareness. In this research, we address issues from the conception through the design, implementation, evaluation to the effective and successful use of our Haptic Deictic System (HDS) in inclusive classrooms. GRANT INFORMATION

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Improvement and Decline in Tactile Discrimination Behavior after Cortical Plasticity Induced by Passive Tactile Coactivation

Cited by 103 publications

References 24 publications

Pain and Plasticity: Is Chronic Pain Always Associated with Somatosensory Cortex Activity and Reorganization?

Pain and Plasticity: Is Chronic Pain Always Associated with Somatosensory Cortex Activity and Reorganization?

Tactile Spatial Acuity Enhancement in Blindness: Evidence for Experience-Dependent Mechanisms

Enabling the blind to see gestures

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