Koba, Cemal (2022) A multi-site image-based data sharing initiative to assess structural brain changes in large cohorts of early and late blind individuals. Advisor: Ricciardi, Prof. Emiliano. pp. 144. [IMT PhD Thesis]
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Abstract
Blindness is a widely studied phenomena in order to under- stand the neuroplasticity in case of sensory deprivation. Number of studies focusing on the structural plasticity during visual deprivation is fewer compared to the functional plasticity. In addition, samples and the results of those studies are heterogeneous. This dissertation utilized the largest dataset of MRI of blind subjects, that is gathered by the efforts of 10 different research labs. The aim was to overcome the previous challenges, and identify pre- and post-natal factors that are confounding the results. In the first chapter, an extensive literature review revealing the current status of the field and identifying the problems is presented. The review is completed with a systematic meta-analysis. Structural plasticity in case of congenital blindness was examined in chapter 3. This chapter focused on between (congenital blind participants versus sighted controls) and within group (effect of the causes of blindness, residual light perception, Braille literacy) differences via utilizing voxel- and surface-based morphometry. In chapter 4, participants with late blindness was examined. In addition to the analyses conducted on the congenital blind subjects, effect of time spent as blind and blindness on-set on neuroplasticity was examined. The results indicate a consistent atrophy on the visual pathway, and a critical pe- riod for vulnerability. In addition, the effect of premature birth, residual light perception, Braille literacy on the structural plasticity and limited sample sizes on the results were revealed.
| Item Type: | IMT PhD Thesis |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | R Medicine > RC Internal medicine |
| PhD Course: | Cognitive, Computational and Social Neurosciences |
| Identification Number: | https://doi.org/10.13118/imtlucca/e-theses/366 |
| NBN Number: | urn:nbn:it:imtlucca-28761 |
| Date Deposited: | 18 Oct 2022 07:49 |
| URI: | http://e-theses.imtlucca.it/id/eprint/366 |
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