How Learning Braille Changes the Brain

Learning a new skill provides the opportunity to study brain neuroplasticity.

The Daily Mail recently highlighted research examining the effects of learning Braille language in a group of 29 sighted individuals.

The authors noted that changes in the the somatosensory cortex related to the tactile nature of Braille were found as expected.

However, the research team also found activation in a region of the lateral occipital lobe known as the visual word form area. This finding was unexpected and suggests new mechanisms in learning brain.

The study used sighted individuals and blind individuals may have distinct mechanisms for learning Braille. An informative study would use sighted and blind individuals with fMRI before and after a period of Braille training.

You can access the story on the Daily Mail HERE.

The free full text manuscript by the Polish research team can be found HERE.

Brain figure highlighting occipital cortex is mine from an iPad screen shot using the 3D Brain app.

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