Abstract
Compensatory changes as a result of auditory deprivation in the deaf lead to higher visual processing skills. In two experiments, we explored if such brain plasticity in the deaf modulates processing of masked stimuli in the visual modality. Deaf and normal-hearing participants responded to targets either voluntarily or by instruction. Masked primes related to the response were presented briefly before the targets at the center and the periphery. In Experiment 1, targets appeared only at the foveal region whereas, in Experiment 2, they appeared both at the fovea and the periphery. The deaf showed higher sensitivity to masked primes in both the experiments. They chose the primed response more often and also were faster during congruent responses compared to the normal hearing. These results suggest that neuroplasticity in the deaf modulates how they perceive and use information with reduced visibility for action selection and execution.
Highlights
Much of what we do not see and report influences our actions and thought
ANOVA was performed on d′ values of proportion data with congruency, prime location, SOA (0, 150) as within-subjects factors and group (Deaf, normal-hearing) as a between-subjects factor
Based on earlier evidence of central-peripheral asymmetry we expected the PCE to turn into NCE at long SOA (150 ms) only for central primes but not for peripheral primes in normal-hearing participants
Summary
Much of what we do not see and report influences our actions and thought. In consonance with the dorsal route hypothesis, ERP data (N1 component) showed preferential processing of ‘motion’ stimulus (dorsal) compared to ‘color’ stimulus (ventral) in the deaf26 Does such a reorganisation of the ‘dorsal’ stream lead to higher sensitivity to information that is hardly visible in the deaf ?. It is clear that the deaf show higher sensitivity to stimuli presented at the visual periphery It is not certain if this advantage is attentional or perceptual given the different paradigms and tasks researchers have used. Given this background, we explored if the deaf show higher sensitivity to masked primes which in turn would influence their action related choices? This was done to test whether the peripheral advantage in Deaf would still be seen when the attentional demands are low (Experiment 2)
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