Cross modality analysis in brain for visually challenged people

Abstract

The integration of the functions of two or more sensory systems in the brain due to the adaptive reorganization of neurons is called cross modal plasticity This sort of reorganization of the neural network occurs following the damage of the brain at an early age or long term sensory deprivation The present work deals with an analysis of cross modal plasticity in the blind using an EEG data analysis by the ERP method and two fractal methods called the Detrended Fluctuation analysis and Hurst Exponent techniques As cross modal processing in the blind for human experience is very important an approach to the quantification of cross modal relationship seems vital to our understanding of human brain function The result of this work may guide the implementation of rehabilitative methods and it has implications for the development of sensory substitution devices particularly for blind individuals Much research has been done in the past to study the cross modal plasticity in brain using imaging techniques like PET and fMRI or by using psycho physiological methods or by analyzing the amplitudes and distribution of the ERP components in the different cortical regions