CorTrINVI · Cortical Training to Improve Navigation for the Visually Impaired

At the moment, in the European Union, there is very little support and virtually no training for blind people. But there are veryefficient modes of navigating one’s environment that blind people can learn and some of them can learn very easily,including: (1) Cone use, (2) Sensory substitution devices, (3) Echolocation.The problem is that the interpersonal variation in all these three techniques is huge. Some blind subjects pick up thesetechniques very quickly and use them efficiently, while others struggle even with the most rudimentary steps. The presentProof of Concept application aims to develop techniques for training blind people’s visual cortices that allow for more efficientspatial perception and navigation.Given the well-demonstrated plasticity of the brain, if a brain region is not used regularly, it is reallocated to do somethingelse. More specifically, if blind subjects whose visual cortices are intact do not use these visual cortices, they get reallocated(to, for example auditory or olfactory processing). If they use their visual cortex, it works well, if they don’t, it will eventuallystop.Crucially, all three of the techniques that help blind people navigate their environment rely heavily on the functioning of theearly visual cortices. The key insight is that blind subjects can navigate their environment better if their visual cortices are ingood condition. But how to achieve that? And this is where my own research on the way mental imagery utilizes early visualcortices can be a game changer. In short, we can keep the primary visual cortices of blind subjects in shape if we have themuse their visual mental imagery. Active reliance on mental imagery prevents the early visual cortices of blind subjects frombeing reallocated to other brain functions and thereby allows them to make full use of navigation techniques like sensorysubstitution, cone use or echolocation.