Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 4, 2026
07:12
A Gaze-Contingent Display Framework for Perceptual Learning Research with Simulated Central Vision Loss
Published on: April 11, 2025
Perceptual plasticity in damaged adult visual systems
1Department of Ophthalmology, Neurobiology & Anatomy and Center for Visual Science, University of Rochester, 601 Elmwood Avenue, Rochester, NY 14642, USA. huxlin@cvs.rochester.edu
Vision Research
|June 28, 2008
Summary
Visual plasticity is common in adult mammals, even after brain damage. This research explores how damage affects visual system plasticity and its implications for rehabilitation therapies.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Visual System Research
- Neuroplasticity
Background:
- Perceptual plasticity is a fundamental property of nervous systems.
- Visual plasticity in adult mammals has been extensively studied.
- Recent controversies question visual plasticity after adult visual system damage.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review evidence on visual plasticity in damaged adult visual systems.
- To understand the role of individual visual areas in plasticity.
- To inform the development of rehabilitation therapies for visual impairment.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of studies on visual plasticity.
- Analysis of evidence regarding adult visual system damage.
- Synthesis of findings on perceptual learning, adaptation, and priming.
Main Results:
- Visual plasticity appears ubiquitous, persisting even after permanent damage to the adult visual system.
- Damage may modify the characteristics of visual plasticity.
- Understanding these modifications is crucial for rehabilitation.
Conclusions:
- Visual plasticity remains a common feature post-damage.
- Further research is needed to define how damage alters visual plasticity.
- This knowledge is vital for developing effective visual rehabilitation strategies.
Related Concept Videos
01:01Neuroplasticity
Neuroplasticity reflects the brain's remarkable capacity to adapt and evolve, responding dynamically to learning, experiences, or injury by reorganizing its neural circuitry. This reorganization involves creating new neural connections and refining old ones through a series of biological processes that contribute to the brain's lifelong development and adaptability.
01:24Color Vision
Color perception begins in the retina, the light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye. Two main theories explain how colors are seen: the trichromatic theory and the opponent-process theory. The trichromatic theory, proposed by Thomas Young in 1802 and extended by Hermann von Helmholtz in 1852, suggests that color vision is based on three types of cone receptors in the retina. These cones are sensitive to different but overlapping ranges of wavelengths corresponding to red, blue, and green.
01:22Photoreceptors and Visual Pathways
At the molecular level, visual signals trigger transformations in photopigment molecules, resulting in changes in the photoreceptor cell's membrane potential. The photon's energy level is denoted by its wavelength, with each specific wavelength of visible light associated with a distinct color. The spectral range of visible light, classified as electromagnetic radiation, spans from 380 to 720 nm. Electromagnetic radiation wavelengths exceeding 720 nm fall under the infrared category, whereas...
01:26Visual System
Light enters the eye through the cornea, a transparent, dome-shaped surface covering the surface of the eyeball that helps to direct and focus incoming light. This light is then channeled toward the pupil, an adjustable opening whose size is controlled by the iris. The iris, a pigmented muscle, regulates the amount of light entering the eye by contracting or dilating the pupil, thereby ensuring optimal light levels for clear vision.
Once through the pupil, the light passes through the lens, a...
Once through the pupil, the light passes through the lens, a...
01:24Vision
Vision is the result of light being detected and transduced into neural signals by the retina of the eye. This information is then further analyzed and interpreted by the brain. First, light enters the front of the eye and is focused by the cornea and lens onto the retina—a thin sheet of neural tissue lining the back of the eye. Because of refraction through the convex lens of the eye, images are projected onto the retina upside-down and reversed.
01:12Visual Agnosia
Visual agnosia is a condition characterized by the inability to recognize visually presented objects despite having normal vision. For instance, a person with visual agnosia can describe the shape and color of an object but cannot identify or name it. This impairment does not affect their visual field, acuity, color vision, brightness discrimination, language, or memory. An example of this condition in a social setting is someone at a dinner party asking for "that silver thing with a round end"...