AP PSYCHOLOGY

BIOLOGICAL BASES OF BEHAVIOR

BIOLOGICAL PSYCHOLOGY

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
If a blind person uses one finger to read Braille, the brain area dedicated to that finger expands as the sense of touch invades the visual cortex. This is an example of
A
integrated association areas.
B
brain plasticity.
C
hemispheric specialization.
D
neural transformation.
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -Plasticity: the brain’s ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience. Example: if a blind person uses one finger to read Braille, the brain area dedicated to that finger expands as the sense of touch invades the visual cortex.

Detailed explanation-2: -In addition, Braille learning appears to be associated with recruitment of parts of the occipital cortex for tactile information processing. The occipital cortex can be critical for reading accuracy.

Detailed explanation-3: -"We found that the visual cortex in the blind was much more strongly activated than it was in the sighted, where visual cortex was mostly deactivated by sounds and touch, ” Rauschecker says. “Furthermore, there was a direct correlation between brain activity and performance in the blind.

Detailed explanation-4: -When blind people “read” Braille with their fingertips, they are somehow able to use the same part of the brain–called the visual cortex–that sighted persons use to interpret things they see.

Detailed explanation-5: -Merkel receptors are the primary receptors that are used in reading Braille.

There is 1 question to complete.