Plasticity in blindness
Are you interested in how your brain works? Blind volunteers needed for magnetic resonance studies of the brain.
MRI is a type of brain scan that allows us to see how the brain is organised, processes information and performs skills like vision, speech or memory. This scan is safe and does not involve any needles or injections.
We are looking for healthy volunteers who lost visual function before the age of 12 months to improve our understanding of how the brain processes information when there is no input to the visual system. In particular we would like to investigate how your brain uses the areas that are normally used for seeing. The study would consist of up to 3 scan sessions of around 1 hour. You would be asked to lie still in a scanner and perform some simple tasks like listening to tones, touching objects or generating words.
Who are we looking for? Healthy fluent English-speaking men or women who have become blind prior to age 12 months, now aged 18-60, who do not have any metal in their head or body (except fillings), are not pregnant, have not had surgery in the past three months, and do not have any metallic implants (e.g. a pacemaker). If you are interested and would like more information, please contact us at the FMRIB Centre, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford on blind.study.oxford@gmail.com.
Thank you for your time!