NASHVILLE, Tenn. ñ Vanderbilt University will host researchers from several countries to review and discuss the latest research in blindness and its impact on the brain in a workshop March 12-14. The main lectures of the invitational workshop, "Blindness, Brain Plasticity and Spatial Function," are free and open to the community.
The workshop, supported by a grant from the National Eye Institute, will focus on research findings regarding how the brain and behavior are impacted by early or late-acquired blindness.
"We will be addressing practical problems and current research related to Braille reading, use of hearing for getting around in daily situations, and use of new technologies such as global positioning systems for persons with visual impairments," said Dan Ashmead, associate professor of hearing and speech sciences and Vanderbilt Kennedy Center investigator.
Researchers from the brain sciences, cognitive sciences, special education, rehabilitative engineering and rehabilitation will present recent findings and analyze issues that cut across the different disciplines. Workshop proceedings will be published as a book.
The Vanderbilt departments of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Psychology, Psychology and Human Development, and Special Education, and the Center for Integrative and Cognitive Neuroscience, the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development and the Vanderbilt Vision Research Center are co-sponsoring the workshop.
The workshop will be held at the Scarritt-Bennett Center, Bennett Building, Raintree Room. The agenda of main lectures is available online at kc.vanderbilt.edu. For more information, call 322-8240.
Media contact: Melanie Catania, (615) 322-7970