Professor Hey-Kyoung Lee of Johns Hopkins University describes how the brain’s neuronal networks reorganize themselves in response to sensory deficits such as blindness and deafness. In blind people neuronal circuits in the visual cortex become responsive to sounds and touch. By recording electrical activity in individual neurons in the visual cortex of mice kept in complete darkness she discovered that some synaptic connections between neurons become stronger. Interestingly, temporary deafening of mice results in increased strength of synapses in the visual cortex. The latter finding suggests that it may be possible to enhance recovery of brain function after an injury to one sensory system by temporarily depriving input from a different sensory system.
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