The work proposed here is a continuation of ongoing research aimed at understanding cross-modal interactions between touch and vision. The long-term objective is to expand knowledge of multisensory processing, as well as its interactions with language and the plasticity of the underlying neural mechanisms, with a view to devising novel neuro- rehabilitative approaches in many contexts, including blindness, autism, traumatic brain injury and focal deficits following stroke, brain tumors or epilepsy. In the last grant cycle, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to reveal segregated processing of haptic object properties: shape, texture and location, with evidence for substantial convergence of visual and haptic processing, and developed a conceptual model of multisensory object representation in visual object-selective cortex.
Specific Aim I of the present application proposes to test the functional localization of the processing of haptic object properties using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).
In Specific Aim II, we use fMRI to examine the factors that determine segregation of activity within visual cortical activity in the congenitally blind, and explore the relationship between linguistic and perceptual processing as underpinnings of such activity in relation to the theory of grounded cognition.
Specific Aim III seeks to build on our recent, exciting finding that listening to sentences containing textural metaphors (e.g. """"""""He had a rough day"""""""") recruits texture-selective somatosensory cortex while listening to sentencing containing shape metaphors recruits shape-selective visual cortex, by exploring domain-specific recruitment of sensory cortical areas during metaphorical cognition, using fMRI in both sighted and blind individuals. Further, we will use TMS to test whether these activations are functionally meaningful, rather than epiphenomenal. This work, apart from further elucidating interactions between vision and touch, will offer new insights into the relationship between perceptual and linguistic processes in the sighted and the congenitally blind, which is relevant for understanding not only of cross-modal plasticity but also of disorders such as autism and traumatic brain injury, where known deficits in metaphor comprehension may reflect defective integrative processing of the kind studied here.
The goal of our research is to expand knowledge of interactions between the senses and their relationship to language, in terms of the underlying brain mechanisms. This knowledge will enable development of novel approaches to neurological rehabilitation in many contexts, including blindness, autism, traumatic brain injury and post-stroke deficits.
| Occelli, Valeria; Lacey, Simon; Stephens, Careese et al. (2017) Enhanced verbal abilities in the congenitally blind. Exp Brain Res 235:1709-1718 |
| Occelli, Valeria; Lacey, Simon; Stephens, Careese et al. (2016) Haptic Object Recognition is View-Independent in Early Blind but not Sighted People. Perception 45:337-45 |
| Lacey, Simon; Sathian, K (2015) CROSSMODAL AND MULTISENSORY INTERACTIONS BETWEEN VISION AND TOUCH. Scholarpedia J 10:7957 |
| Adhikari, Bhim M; Sathian, K; Epstein, Charles M et al. (2014) Oscillatory activity in neocortical networks during tactile discrimination near the limit of spatial acuity. Neuroimage 91:300-10 |
| Lacey, Simon; Stilla, Randall; Sreenivasan, Karthik et al. (2014) Spatial imagery in haptic shape perception. Neuropsychologia 60:144-58 |
| Sathian, K; Deshpande, Gopikrishna; Stilla, Randall (2013) Neural changes with tactile learning reflect decision-level reweighting of perceptual readout. J Neurosci 33:5387-98 |
| Lacey, Simon; Stilla, Randall; Sathian, K (2012) Metaphorically feeling: comprehending textural metaphors activates somatosensory cortex. Brain Lang 120:416-21 |
| Lacey, Simon; Lin, Jonathan B; Sathian, K (2011) Object and spatial imagery dimensions in visuo-haptic representations. Exp Brain Res 213:267-73 |
| Sathian, K; Lacey, Simon; Stilla, Randall et al. (2011) Dual pathways for haptic and visual perception of spatial and texture information. Neuroimage 57:462-75 |
| Lacey, Simon; Hagtvedt, Henrik; Patrick, Vanessa M et al. (2011) Art for reward's sake: visual art recruits the ventral striatum. Neuroimage 55:420-33 |
Showing the most recent 10 out of 28 publications
