Crossmodal plasticity revealed by sensory devices shows change only in the “spatiality” of experience, not sensory experience

Glenney, Brian (2006) Crossmodal plasticity revealed by sensory devices shows change only in the “spatiality” of experience, not sensory experience. In: 10th annual meeting of the Association for the Scientific Study of Consciousness, June 2006, Oxford, England.

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Abstract

Sensory deficits like blindness and sensory devices like inverted goggles reveal crossmodal plasticity; functional and structural change across sensory systems in the brain due to stimulus change. Here are two questions in response to this phenomenon: 1)In what way does crossmodal plasticity affect sensory experience? 2)Does stimulus change or functional/structural change lead to changes in sensory experience? I argue in answer to (1) that crossmodal plasticity does not lead to a difference in sense experience, such as the somatosensory cortex giving rise to visual experience, as has been argued by Noe and Hurley (2003) but leads to a change in spatial experience, such as the somatosensory cortex giving rise to the experience of distal objects. In answer to (2) I argue that the novelty of the perception of distal stimuli by touch brings about the reported novelty of experience when using a sensory devices. Furthermore, I speculate that, given the evidence that the visual cortex is recruited in such tasks and that there is no change in sensory experience, that the recruitment of the visual cortex is for functional purposes, providing extra processing support for interpreting the novel distal stimuli acquired by touch.

Comments/Discussion

This work adds to the discussion on how conscious experience relates to particular cortical areas. In particular, in supports the claim that there are no cases, contrary to Noe and Hurley (2003), where a dedicated cortical area, like the somatosensory cortex, will give rise to conscious experience normally dedicated to another cortical area, like visual experience.

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