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An examination of linking hypotheses drawn from the perceptual consequences of experimentally induced changes in neural circuitry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2013

DONALD E. MITCHELL  and
STEPHEN G. LOMBER
DONALD E. MITCHELL*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
STEPHEN G. LOMBER
Affiliation:
Brain and Mind Institute, Department of Psychology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada
*
*Address correspondence to: Dr. Donald E. Mitchell, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Life Sciences Centre, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 4R2, Canada. E-mail: d.e.mitchell@dal.ca
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Abstract

Because targeted early experiential manipulations alter both perception and the response properties of particular cells in the striate cortex, they have been used as evidence for linking hypotheses between the two. However, such hypotheses assume that the effects of the early biased visual input are restricted to just the specific cell population and/or visual areas of interest and that the neural populations that contribute to the visual perception itself do not change. To examine this assumption, we measured the consequences for vision of an extended period of early monocular deprivation (MD) on a kitten (from 19 to 219 days of age) that began well before, and extended beyond, bilateral ablation of visual cortical areas 17 and 18 at 132 days of age. In agreement with previous work, the lesion reduced visual acuity by only a factor of two indicating that the neural sites, other than cortical areas 17 and 18, that support vision in their absence have good spatial resolution. However, these sites appear to be affected profoundly by MD as the effects on vision were just as severe as those observed following MD imposed on normal animals. The pervasive effects of selected early visual deprivation across many cortical areas reported here and elsewhere, together with the potential for perception to be mediated at a different neural site following deprivation than after typical rearing, points to a need for caution in the use of data from early experiential manipulations for formulation of linking hypotheses.

Keywords

CatPlasticityVisual cortexLesionsDeprivation
Type
Linking performance and neural mechanisms in development and disability
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 30 , Special Issue 5-6: Linking Hypotheses in Visual Neuroscience: A Tribute to Davida Teller , November 2013 , pp. 271 - 276
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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