alt Hacker NewsThis isn't remotely a hypothetical, so I imagine there are some examples out there, especially from back when polio was a problem. Although, for practical reasons, they might have had limited exposure to novelty, which could have negative consequences.
I agree it’s not hypothetical and also as a layperson I don’t know how much impact on cognition has been studied. Would be cool if it has!
I do know of studies that showed blind people start using their visual cortex to process sounds. That is pretty cool imo