Introduction

Over the past few years, increasing evidence has been accumulating that visual cortical areas are closely involved in certain aspects of normal tactile perception. Such findings of cross-modal cortical recruitment challenge the notion that the senses are rigidly distinct from one another, emphasizing instead their close-knit nature. In this chapter we review the empirical evidence for visual cortical involvement in tactile perception in normally sighted humans. This evidence stems from functional neuroimaging studies in humans, which have shown that visual cortical regions are recruited during a number of tactile tasks and in a manner that is highly task-specific. Studies of the sighted and of individuals with visual deprivation of long (see Fridman, Celnik, & Cohen, Chap. 45, this volume) or short term are mutually complementary.