TY - JOUR T1 - Domain selectivity in the parahippocampal gyrus is predicted by the same structural connectivity patterns in blind and sighted individuals JF - The Journal of Neuroscience JO - J. Neurosci. DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3622-16.2017 SP - 3622-16 AU - Xiaoying Wang AU - Chenxi He AU - Marius V. Peelen AU - Suyu Zhong AU - Gaolang Gong AU - Alfonso Caramazza AU - Yanchao Bi Y1 - 2017/04/05 UR - http://www.jneurosci.org/content/early/2017/04/05/JNEUROSCI.3622-16.2017.abstract N2 - Human ventral occipitotemporal cortex (VOTC) contains clusters of neurons that show domain preferring responses during visual perception. Recent studies have reported that some of these clusters show surprisingly similar domain selectivity in congenitally blind participants performing non-visual tasks. An important open question is whether these functional similarities were driven by similar innate connections in blind and sighted groups. Here we addressed this question focusing on the parahippocampal gyrus (PHG), a region selective to large objects and scenes. Based on the assumption that patterns of long-range connectivity shape local computation, we examined whether domain selectivity in PHG is driven by similar structural connectivity patterns in the two populations. Regression models were trained to predict PHG voxels' selectivity to large manmade objects from white matter (WM) connectivity patterns in both groups. These models were then tested on independent data from participants with similar visual experience (two sighted groups) and on data from participants with different visual experience (blind and sighted groups). Strikingly, the WM-based predictions between blind and sighted groups were as successful as predictions between two independent sighted groups. That is, the functional selectivity for large objects of a PHG voxel in a blind participant could be accurately predicted by its WM pattern using the connection-to-function model built from the sighted group data, and vice versa. Regions that significantly predicted PHG selectivity were located in temporal and frontal cortex in both sighted and blind populations. These results show that the large-scale network driving domain selectivity in PHG is independent of vision.Significance statementRecent studies have reported intriguingly similar domain selectivity in sighted and congenitally blind individuals in regions within the ventral visual cortex. To examine whether these similarities originated from similar innate connectional roots, we investigated whether the domain selectivity in one population could be predicted by the structural connectivity pattern of the other. We found that the selectivity to large manmade objects of a PHG voxel in a blind participant could be predicted by its structural connectivity pattern using the connection-to-function model built from the sighted group data, and vice versa. These results reveal that the structural connectivity for the domain selectivity in the PHG is independent of visual experience, providing evidence for multimodal representations in this region. ER -