TY  - JOUR
A1  - Rimmele, Johanna Maria
A1  - Gudi-Mindermann, Helene
A1  - Nolte, Guido
A1  - Röder, Brigitte
A1  - Engel, Andreas K.
T1  - Working memory training integrates visual cortex into beta-band networks in congenitally blind individuals
T2  - NeuroImage
N2  - Congenitally blind individuals have been shown to activate the visual cortex during non-visual tasks. The neuronal mechanisms of such cross-modal activation are not fully understood. Here, we used an auditory working memory training paradigm in congenitally blind and in sighted adults. We hypothesized that the visual cortex gets integrated into auditory working memory networks, after these networks have been challenged by training. The spectral profile of functional networks was investigated which mediate cross-modal reorganization following visual deprivation. A training induced integration of visual cortex into task-related networks in congenitally blind individuals was expected to result in changes in long-range functional connectivity in the theta-, beta- and gamma band (imaginary coherency) between visual cortex and working memory networks. Magnetoencephalographic data were recorded in congenitally blind and sighted individuals during resting state as well as during a voice-based working memory task; the task was performed before and after working memory training with either auditory or tactile stimuli, or a control condition. Auditory working memory training strengthened theta-band (2.5-5 Hz) connectivity in the sighted and beta-band (17.5-22.5 Hz) connectivity in the blind. In sighted participants, theta-band connectivity increased between brain areas typically involved in auditory working memory (inferior frontal, superior temporal, insular cortex). In blind participants, beta-band networks largely emerged during the training, and connectivity increased between brain areas involved in auditory working memory and as predicted, the visual cortex. Our findings highlight long-range connectivity as a key mechanism of functional reorganization following congenital blindness, and provide new insights into the spectral characteristics of functional network connectivity.
KW  - Congenitally blind
KW  - Functional connectivity
KW  - Oscillations
KW  - Training
KW  - Working memory
Y1  - 2019
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/48991
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-489917
UR  - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1053811919301703
SN  - 1095-9572
SN  - 1053-8119
N1  - © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
VL  - 194
SP  - 259
EP  - 271
PB  - Academic Press
CY  - Orlando, Fla.
ER  -