[Nfbmd] FMRI Study about pitch processing for the blind
Melissa Ann Riccobono
melissa at riccobono.us
Mon Oct 1 23:40:11 UTC 2012
Hello everyone,
Please check out the below message and help if you can. Please contact the
sender of the message directly, as he or she is not on this list.
Thank you,
Melissa
Hello everyone,
My name is JK and I got this email from Maurice Peret who referred me to
you. I am a researcher in the department of neuroscience at Georgetown
University, Washington DC. I'm currently conducting a fMRI study that
examines pitch processing in blind people and am in need of participants who
would be willing to spare a few hours of their time.
Below is detailed information about the study. If you are interested, please
contact me at this address and let me know. If you know anyone who might be
eligible and interested in the study, please feel free to distribute this
email to them as well. I look forward to hearing back from you! Thank you
for reading this email.
Have a good day,
JK
--------
Participate in a paid research study on blindness!
About the study:
The brain of blind individuals is different from that of the sighted in that
part of the brain called the occipital cortex which normally processes
visual information in the sighted is involved in processing of information
gathered from other senses such as touch and hearing.
This phenomenon, called crossmodal plasticity, is understood as changes
resulting from long-term visual deprivation in the blind and has been shown
in performance of non-visual tasks such as Braille reading, verbal tasks,
shape discrimination, and sound localization.
We hope to further our understanding of crossmodal plasticity by examining
other behavioral domains that have not yet been investigated.
Findings of our studies will not only have potential implications for
blindness rehabilitation but also contribute significantly to our
understanding of how the human brain works.
We are currently looking for blind volunteers who would be interested in
participating in the study that will examine melody processing in the blind,
more specifically, how long-term visual deprivation affects the way blind
people process sound in general and pitch in particular.
This study will consist of one behavioral and one functional magnetic
resonance imaging (fMRI) session. During both of these sessions, you will
be asked to listen to sequences of tones and make simple perceptual
judgments on them. Findings of this study will help understand superior
pitch abilities that the blind possess compared to the sighted, and further
knowledge on musical processing in the blind.
Each of these sessions will last approximately 2 hours, and all the
participants will be reimbursed for participation in the studies. MRI has
been shown to be a safe imaging technique as no known side effects have been
reported.
Who we are looking for: Blind individuals who are ages between 18 and
65 and have no residual vision or light sensitivity.
Location: The study will take place at the Medical Center of Georgetown
University located in Washington DC.
Contact Us: If you are interested, please email JK Kim at
crossmodal.plasticity at gmail.com or call (202) 687-8358 .
On Sat, Sep 22, 2012 at 5:48 PM, Maurice Peret <mauriceperet at gmail.com>
wrote:
> Greetings JK,
>
> Thanks for resending this information. I really do regret not being
> able to participate in your study as I think that interesting
> implications could emerge from it. Far too often, I fear, research has
> historically been designed and conducted based upon misguided or
> erroneous assumptions about the capacities of blind people. I happen
> to believe that recent neuroscientific discoveries have challenged
> some of the past misconceptions about blindness and about the affects
> of blindness on brain function. Done properly, I further believe that
> what could result from such research is better training programs as
> might be developed to enhance learning and mastery of equivalent
> skills performed alternatively or nonvisually. Of course, there is
> always the danger of these sorts of studies simply rehashing or
> repackaging old or new assumptions or myths about blindness. I suspect
> that one of these has to do with the ability of blind people to have
> "perfect pitch" disperportionate to sighted folks. As fascinated as I
> am about empirical research, it seems to me that any sort of data
> based study on blindness amounts to more of a social science as it is
> difficult or perhaps often inadvisable to draw concrete conclusions
> about a group of people with such a high degree of variance, how long
> has an individual been totally without sight, what sorts of
> environmental or academic training has he or she been exposed to, how
> do social, professional, and familial expectations impact learning,
> etc.
>
> I wish you success with your study and hope that those whom I've
> copied on this message will forward it to other lists that might
> attract participants in your area.
>
> Again, I am sorry I can't do it myself. I find that my schedule simply
> does not allow for the block of time it would take to travel to D.C.
> and commit to the tests for a predetermined timeframe. There should be
> others who are more flexible to help you out, though.
>
> With Regards,
> --
> Maurice Peret, NOMCT
> National Orientation & Mobility Certifier Trainer
> **************************************************
> Please ask your Congress Representatives and Senators to support
> passage of H.R. 3086, the Fair Wages for People with Disabilities Act
> of 2011. Ask them to share our positive belief in the real capacity of
> workers with disabilities. The text of the bill can be found at:
> http://goo.gl/coE2N
> You can also learn more at http://goo.gl/Rky1t Use #FairWages on
> Twitter to track this important issue.
> **************************************************
> On 9/20/12, JK Kim <crossmodal.plasticity at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi Maurice,
>>
>>
>> This is JK. As promised, below is the description of my study. I
>> would really appreciate if you could forward this information to
>> anyone who might be interested and lives in the DC area. Thank you very
much!
>>
>>
>> Best wishes,
>>
>>
>> JK
>>
>>
>> ---------
>>
>> *Participate in a paid research study on blindness!*
>>
>>
>> *About the study*:
>>
>>
>> The brain of blind individuals is different from that of the sighted
>> in that part of the brain called the occipital cortex which normally
>> processes visual information in the sighted is involved in processing
>> of information gathered from other senses such as touch and hearing.
>> This phenomenon, called crossmodal plasticity, is understood as
>> changes resulting from long-term visual deprivation in the blind and
>> has been shown in performance of non-visual tasks such as Braille
>> reading, verbal tasks, shape discrimination, and sound localization.
>> We hope to further our understanding of crossmodal plasticity by
>> examining other behavioral domains that have not yet been
>> investigated. Findings of our studies will not only have potential
>> implications for blindness rehabilitation but also contribute
significantly to our understanding of how the human brain works.
>>
>>
>> We are currently looking for blind volunteers who would be interested
>> in participating in the study that will examine melody processing in
>> the blind, more specifically, how long-term visual deprivation
>> affects the way blind people process sound in general and pitch in
>> particular. This study will consist of one behavioral and one
>> functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) session. During both of
>> these sessions, you will be asked to listen to sequences of tones and
>> make simple perceptual judgments on them. Findings of this study
>> will help understand superior pitch abilities that the blind possess
>> compared to the sighted, and further knowledge on musical processing in
the blind.
>>
>>
>> Each of these sessions will last approximately 2 hours, and all the
>> participants will be reimbursed for travel expenses (provided that
>> they reside in areas of or nearby Washington, DC) and participation
>> in the studies. MRI has been shown to be a safe imaging technique as
>> no known side effects have been reported.
>>
>> *Who we are looking for*: Blind individuals who are ages between 18
>> and 65 and have no residual vision or light sensitivity.
>>
>> *Location*: The study will take place at the Medical Center of
>> Georgetown University located in Washington DC.
>>
>>
>>
>> *Contact Us*: If you are interested, please email JK Kim at
>> crossmodal.plasticity at gmail.com or call (202)687-4981
>>
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