In the study, a group of congenitally blind people was compared with a group of sighted people reading Braille, with the various brain areas that are activated being visualized using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). It was found that the occipital lobe, which is involved in vision, was weaker in the blind and the temporal lobe was stronger. This area of the brain, in turn, works more closely with hearing, which ultimately might also explain the better hearing abilities of many blind people.
The experts, among others from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, hope that their findings can also help to restore the sight of blind people in the future. To this end, they are currently working on a study in which not only the structural but also the functional brain changes caused by the visual activities of blind people are to be researched.