Abstract
Introduction: The continuous process of brain change, of “reorganization” of neural circuits, and the reception of new attitudes or thoughts, is what is called neuroplasticity. A better understanding of how the brain adapts to vision loss and what the functional consequences are for the remaining sensory information could result in a better quality of life for the visually impaired. Objective: Discuss the mechanism of cortical neuroplasticity in visual impairment, and the importance of this mechanism for patients with low vision and blindness. Method: The research was carried out by selecting articles from the PubMed and Scielo databases, covering publications in English and Portuguese. The following descriptors were used: neuroplasticity, plasticity of the visual cortex, neural plasticity in blindness, neuroplasticity in visual impairment. Discussion: The notion that vision loss is partially compensated by other sensory modalities is quite popular and serves to explain the use of behavioral alternatives by visually impaired people, such as reading Braille. Hearing plays an important role due to its ability to spatially analyze the environment, similar in many aspects to vision. In fact, it has been demonstrated that blind people have above-normal abilities in auditory tasks, such as sound localization based only on monaural cues. Conclusion: The results of the various studies show that the great "selectivity" of the visual system for the processing of light stimuli arises mainly from the methods usually used to study this system. In the absence of vision, the visual cortex can respond to tactile and auditory stimuli, because the absence of vision allows the unmasking of latent connections, thus revealing metamodal organization.
Published Version
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