he article, authored by our department's research assistant Hasan DUYMUŞ as the first author, and conducted under the supervision of Bilkent University Lecturer Ausaf FAROOQUI within the scope of the TÜBİTAK 1001 project, examines the cognitive control networks in the brains of congenitally blind and congenitally deaf individuals through fMRI. The article has been published in the Oxford Brain journal.
Published since 1878, the journal has an impact factor of 14.5 and is among the top 5 journals in Clinical Neuroscience. This study is the third from Turkey to be accepted in the journal's 146-year history (the first being by Prof. Dr. Hulusi BEHÇET, who discovered Behçet's disease, and the second by Prof. Dr. Cumhur GÜNDÜZ). Additionally, it is the first study from Turkey to be accepted in the field of Experimental Neuroscience. Our department's alumnus Şehmus KURT and our Assistant Professor Dr. Elif Emir ÖKSÜZ are also among the other authors of the study.
The study, published last June, demonstrated that in congenitally blind individuals, the "visual" cortex does not transform into another sensory region. Instead, it functions similarly to fronto-parietal regions, which are associated with fluid intelligence and are activated during any task requiring cognitive control, regardless of the task's content and modality.
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