Attention and Perception in the Deaf: A Case for Plasticity in Consciousness

Much of the current discussion related to visual awareness and consciousness stands on results obtained from experiments in cognitive and experimental psychology as well as in cognitive neuroscience. Any structural deficits of the brain can lead to a transfer of functional capacities to other areas as a result of plasticity. Thus, conscious perception of visual events and action control can change as a result of such neural plasticity. We discuss research findings on hearing impaired individuals where they have been shown to be better at visual processing. Deaf individuals perceive and perform better with peripheral objects in the visual field as seen with manual and eye movement responses. Our experiments also show that the deaf can reorient attention faster in the visual modality. The chapter will try to emphasise the usefulness of experimental facts in the construction of theories of consciousness, at least in the domain of visual cognition.