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Receptive field dynamics in adult primary visual cortex

Nature volume 356, pages 150–152 (1992)Cite this article

Abstract

THE adult brain has a remarkable ability to adjust to changes in sensory input. Removal of afferent input to the somatosensory, auditory, motor or visual cortex results in a marked change of cortical topography1–10. Changes in sensory activity can, over a period of months, alter receptive field size and cortical topography11. Here we remove visual input by focal binocular retinal lesions and record from the same cortical sites before and within minutes after making the lesion and find immediate striking increases in receptive field size for cortical cells with receptive fields near the edge of the retinal scotoma. After a few months even the cortical areas that were initially silenced by the lesion recover visual activity, representing retinotopic loci surrounding the lesion. At the level of the lateral geniculate nucleus, which provides the visual input to the striate cortex, a large silent region remains. Furthermore, anatomical studies show that the spread of geniculocortical afferents is insufficient to account for the cortical recovery. The results indicate that the topographic reorganization within the cortex was largely due to synaptic changes intrinsic to the cortex, perhaps through the plexus of long-range horizontal connections.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, New York, 10021-6399, USA

    Charles D. Gilbert & Torsten N. Wiesel

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  1. Charles D. Gilbert
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  2. Torsten N. Wiesel
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Gilbert, C., Wiesel, T. Receptive field dynamics in adult primary visual cortex. Nature 356, 150–152 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1038/356150a0

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