'Seeing' bodies via sounds | Nature Reviews Neuroscience


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Access through your institution Buy or subscribe In sighted people, seeing human bodies or body parts selectively activates the extrastriate body area (EBA) of the visual cortex; however, it


is not known whether EBA activation and hence development of a body-image network occurs in the absence of visual stimuli. Striem-Amit and Amedi trained congenitally blind individuals to


'see' two-dimensional images by translating them into auditory 'soundscapes'. In this group, exposure to soundscapes of full-body silhouettes induced functional MRI


responses in the EBA, and sighted individuals showed similar responses when shown the same silhouettes. In the blind individuals, EBA activation was selective for body shapes over objects,


faces and textures, and the right EBA displayed functional connectivity to parts of the body-image network. Thus, EBA activation may be independent of sensory mode. This is a preview of


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ADDITIONAL ACCESS OPTIONS: * Log in * Learn about institutional subscriptions * Read our FAQs * Contact customer support REFERENCES * Striem-Amit, E. & Amedi, A. Visual cortex


extrastriate body-selective area activation in congenitally blind people “seeing” by using sounds. _Curr. Biol._ 24, 687–692 (2014) Article  CAS  Google Scholar  Download references Authors


* Natasha Bray View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE Bray,


N. 'Seeing' bodies via sounds. _Nat Rev Neurosci_ 15, 281 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrn3734 Download citation * Published: 09 April 2014 * Issue Date: May 2014 * DOI:


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