Blind children can repurpose brain's visual center to process speech — study

Findings that highlight how brain's 'plasticity' allows congenitally blind and sighted children to adapt to sensory experiences could inform future treatments

Parts of the brain once thought to be primarily devoted to processing vision can be recruited by blind children as young as five to process speech, a study has found.

The work could have implications for neurologists' understanding of "plasticity", or how the brain adapts to experience.