Contingent negative variation to tactile stimuli-differences in anticipatory and preparatory processes between participants with and without blindness

People who are blind demonstrate remarkable abilities within the spared senses and compensatory enhancement of cognitive skills, underscored by substantial plastic reorganization in relevant neural areas. However, little is known about whether people with blindness form top-down models of the world on short timescales more efficiently to guide goal-oriented behavior. This electroencephalography study investigates this hypothesis at the neurophysiological level, focusing on contingent negative variation (CNV) as a marker of anticipatory and preparatory processes prior to expected events. In sum, 20 participants with blindness and 27 sighted participants completed a classic CNV task and a memory CNV task, both containing tactile stimuli to exploit the expertise of the former group. Although the reaction times in the classic CNV task did not differ between groups, participants who are blind reached higher performance rates in the memory task. This superior performance co-occurred with a distinct neurophysiological profile, relative to controls: greater late CNV amplitudes over central areas, suggesting enhanced stimulus expectancy and motor preparation prior to key events. Controls, in contrast, recruited more frontal sites, consistent with inefficient sensory-aligned control. We conclude that in more demanding cognitive contexts exploiting the spared senses, people with blindness efficiently generate task-relevant internal models to facilitate behavior.

Automated summary

People who are blind have remarkable abilities in the spared senses and cognitive skills due to plastic reorganization in relevant neural areas. It is unknown whether they can form top-down models of the world more efficiently to guide goal-oriented behavior. This study used electroencephalography to investigate the neurophysiological level of this hypothesis and found that blind participants performed better in a memory task, accompanied by distinct neurophysiological profiles indicating enhanced stimulus expectancy and motor preparation. This suggests that blind individuals can efficiently generate task-relevant internal models in demanding cognitive contexts.