Experience-Dependent Reorganization Drives Development of a Binocularly Unified Cortical Representation of Orientation.

ABSTRACT: Across sensory areas, neural microcircuits consolidate streams of information into unified representations of the external world. In the carnivore visual cortex, where eye-specific inputs first converge, it has been posited that a single, binocularly aligned modular orientation representation develops independent of sensory experience. In this study of ferret visual cortex using in vivo calcium imaging, we find evidence for a different developmental process. Early in development, contralateral, ipsilateral, or binocular stimulation each yield well-organized modular representations of orientation that display features of mature cortex. However, comparison of these representations reveals considerable misalignment that is evident at both modular and cellular scales. Experience-dependent proc

SUBMITTER: Chang JT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7381370 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature