14 DAY TRIAL // According to the conclusions of a new study conducted on congenitally-blind children who underwent repair surgery after the age of 10, it would appear that the human brain retains its ability to learn how to use a new sense for much longer than initially thought.
For many years, scientists said that the brain was unable to learn how to use its vision center several years after birth. The reasoning went that the visual cortex was unable to learn how to process signals from the optic nerve if it was not practiced at doing so from an early age.
The new study was carried on 11 children in India, where doctors constantly refuse cataract surgeries for children older than 7. Scientists from MIT, led by cognitive scientist Amy Kalia, determined that 5 of the kids showed no improvement following surgery, whereas 1 showed worst symptoms, due to post-surgery complications.
The other 5 participants, however, displayed marked improvements in their ability to discern elements in high-contrast images such as the one above. Two of these kids exhibited a 300 percent improvement in contrast sensitivity, proving that the brain can learn to see even as late as adolescence.
Results of the work were published in last week's issue of the esteemed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Nature News reports.