Higher-order crossmodal representations in the auditory cortex of deaf and hearing individuals

The study of early deafnes provides unique insights into how sensory experience shapes brain function and organisation. Here we investigated whether the auditory cortex of deaf individuals can implement higher-order cognitive functions when its sensory input is absent or significantly reduced. Crossmodal plasticity research has shown that auditory areas of the human brain are recruited for executive processing tasks in deaf individuals (Cardin et al., 2018; Ding et al., 2015; Manini et al., 2022; Zimmermann et al., 2021). What is the role of the auditory cortex during such executive processes in deaf individuals? One possibility is that it has a role in sensory processing, extracting information about relevant features. Alternatively, they it may represent higher-order information, such as coding task rules or modulating attentional states.

To distinguish between these hypotheses, we conducted an fMRI delay-to-match experiment in either the visual or somatosensory modality in deaf (N=13) and hearing (N=18) individuals. Representational Similarity Analysis (RSA) showed that the auditory cortex of deaf individuals contains information about higher-level processes such as task and sensory modality. We also found significant representations of somatosensory frequency. Critically, task and modality representations were also found in the auditory cortex of hearing individuals. These findings suggest that crossmodal plasticity relies on the enhancement of representations that are present in hearing individuals, rather than through the implementation of novel ones. In conclusion, we show that sensory experience shapes cognitive processing and the function of sensory regions in the brain, and that the “functional destiny” of cortical regions can be shaped by early sensory experience.