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Visual imagery and functional connectivity in blindness: a single-case study

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Abstract

We present a case report on visual brain plasticity after total blindness acquired in adulthood. SH lost her sight when she was 27. Despite having been totally blind for 43 years, she reported to strongly rely on her vivid visual imagery. Three-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of SH and age-matched controls was performed. The MRI sequence included anatomical MRI, resting-state functional MRI, and task-related functional MRI where SH was instructed to imagine colours, faces, and motion. Compared to controls, voxel-based analysis revealed white matter loss along SH’s visual pathway as well as grey matter atrophy in the calcarine sulci. Yet we demonstrated activation in visual areas, including V1, using functional MRI. Of the four identified visual resting-state networks, none showed alterations in spatial extent; hence, SH’s preserved visual imagery seems to be mediated by intrinsic brain networks of normal extent. Time courses of two of these networks showed increased correlation with that of the inferior posterior default mode network, which may reflect adaptive changes supporting SH’s strong internal visual representations. Overall, our findings demonstrate that conscious visual experience is possible even after years of absence of extrinsic input.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Klinikum Rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675, Munich, Germany

    Christine C. Boucard, Achim Berthele & Mark Mühlau

  2. TUM, Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Christine C. Boucard, Josef P. Rauschecker, Anselm Doll, Andrej Manoliu, Valentin Riedl, Christian Sorg, Afra Wohlschläger & Mark Mühlau

  3. Institute for Advanced Study, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Josef P. Rauschecker

  4. Laboratory of Integrative Neuroscience and Cognition, Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, 20057-1460, USA

    Josef P. Rauschecker

  5. Department of Neuroradiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Susanne Neufang, Andrej Manoliu, Valentin Riedl, Christian Sorg & Afra Wohlschläger

  6. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University of Wuerzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Susanne Neufang

  7. Department of Psychiatry, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Ismaninger Str. 22, 81675, Munich, Germany

    Anselm Doll, Andrej Manoliu & Christian Sorg

  8. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany

    Valentin Riedl

  9. Munich Center for Neurosciences, Brain and Mind, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Martinsried, Germany

    Anselm Doll

  10. Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), Munich, Germany

    Mark Mühlau

Authors
  1. Christine C. Boucard
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  2. Josef P. Rauschecker
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  3. Susanne Neufang
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  4. Achim Berthele
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  5. Anselm Doll
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  6. Andrej Manoliu
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  7. Valentin Riedl
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  8. Christian Sorg
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  9. Afra Wohlschläger
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  10. Mark Mühlau
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mark Mühlau.

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Boucard, C.C., Rauschecker, J.P., Neufang, S. et al. Visual imagery and functional connectivity in blindness: a single-case study. Brain Struct Funct 221, 2367–2374 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-015-1010-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00429-015-1010-2

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