Functional reorganization of primary visual cortex induced by electrical stimulation in the cat

Compared to the high degree of plasticity observed in a juvenile, mature sensory cortices have long been held to be immutable but, recently, researchers have suggested some plasticity persists in the mature cortex. Cortical reorganization has particular saliency to the development of a cortically based, sensory neuroprosthesis, which will chronically evoke activity through electrical stimulation. We have examined the nature and extent of the reorganization induced by electrical stimulation. We found the receptive field size and synaptic efficacy can be increased, particularly for neurons near the stimulation site. As the changes are minimal, these results are not expected to impact neuroprosthetic applications.