Israeli Scientists Map Brains Of The Blind To Solve Mysteries

According to a research in the journal Nature Communications, Israeli scientists have come up with a solution for people with physically impaired eyesight through brain mapping method. Brain mapping helps to understand which part of the brain gives us certain abilities.

The tools known as Sensory Substitution Devices (SSD) are used which takes the information from one sensory organ, process it and gives an output through another which enables a blind person to see using other senses such as touch or hear. For this purpose smartphone or a webcam is used to convert a visual image into a different form which enables a blind person to build a mental image of an object and also the color of the object.

"These devices can help the blind in their everyday life," explained professor Amir Amedi from Hebrew University's Amedi Lab for Brain and Multisensory Research.

"These devices also open unique research opportunities by letting us see what happens in brain regions normally associated with one sense, when the relevant information comes from another," he added.

Professor Amir Amedi, an internationally acclaimed brain scientist, says that these devices can help blind people in their day to day activities. A blind person, through the use of SSD, can even read letters by recognizing their diverse soundscape. He further explains that it is not the letters visual symbols but rather brain’s language-processing centres which is the main condition for reading area to develop. He further states that these devices opens new scope for researchers to discover functionality in one part of the brain connected to one sense with relevant information following from other senses.
 
To study the brain functioning in a blind person researchers have used functional MRI imaging while using an SSD to identify their sound. From the study, the researchers have discovered that when it comes to enidentifying letters specialized brain areas are activated by the task at hand, rather than by vision or hearing senses.

- IANS

Thanks Raiki for contribution.

Kaiser Bey

Kaiser is a tech enthusiast who likes to write, read and talk about tech. He dreams of going to Mars and never come back. We hope that you find his posts on AndroGuider helpful and informative