Deaf people sense touch differently than others
Deaf people sense touch differently than those who can hear.
Deaf people sense touch differently than those who can hear.
Researchers at the University of Oregon found that deaf people use the part of their brain reserved for hearing to sense touch.
Looking at the audio cortex in the brain, the study found that deaf people use the region to a much greater degree when seeing and touching.
"As it turns out, the primary auditory cortex in people who are profoundly deaf focuses on touch, even more than vision, in our experiment," said Christina M. Karns of the University of Oregon in a statement.
The results once again show the amazing plasticity of the brain to adapt when senses are stifled, according to OPB News.
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"This research shows how the brain is capable of rewiring in dramatic ways," said James F. Battey, director of the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, reported Live Science.
"This will be of great interest to other researchers who are studying multisensory processing in the brain."
The researchers noted that past studies have shown that deaf people are better at processing peripheral vision and motion and have heightened senses compared to others.
The study was published in The Journal of Neuroscience.
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