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Related Concept Videos

Somatosensation01:33

Somatosensation

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The somatosensory system relays sensory information from the skin, mucous membranes, limbs, and joints. Somatosensation is more familiarly known as the sense of touch. A typical somatosensory pathway includes three types of long neurons: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary neurons have cell bodies located near the spinal cord in groups of neurons called dorsal root ganglia. The sensory neurons of ganglia innervate designated areas of skin called dermatomes.
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Visual System01:26

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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.
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Vision01:24

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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.
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Somatosensory, Motor, and Association Cortex01:23

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The somatosensory cortex in the parietal lobes is crucial for interpreting sensory data such as touch, temperature, and proprioception. The somatosensory cortex, situated in the parietal lobes, plays a vital role in interpreting sensory information like touch, temperature, and proprioception—awareness of body position. This specialized brain region features an organized structure wherein neurons at the top primarily process sensations originating from the lower body. In contrast, those at...
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Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex01:14

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The cerebral cortex, the brain's outermost layer, is pivotal in processing complex cognitive tasks, emotions, and various sensory inputs and executing voluntary motor activities. This intricate structure is divided into three primary functional areas: the motor areas, sensory areas, and association areas.
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Association Areas of the Cortex01:21

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Association areas are regions of the cerebral cortex that do not have a specific sensory or motor function. Instead, they integrate and interpret information from various sources to enable higher cognitive processes such as memory, learning, and decision-making. Some key association areas include the following:
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Visualizing Visual Adaptation
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Sensory experience modifies feature map relationships in visual cortex.

Shaun L Cloherty1,2,3, Nicholas J Hughes4,5, Markus A Hietanen1,2

  • 1National Vision Research Institute, Australian College of Optometry, Carlton, Australia.

Elife
|June 17, 2016
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Sensory input shapes brain development. Researchers found that altering visual input in cats can change the spatial relationship between orientation preference and ocular dominance maps in the visual cortex, demonstrating significant brain plasticity.

Keywords:
brain developmentcatneuroscienceocular dominance maporientation pinwheelorientation preference mapplasticity

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Developmental Neuroscience
  • Visual System Plasticity

Background:

  • The influence of sensory input on developing brain structure is a key question in neuroscience.
  • The mammalian visual cortex, with its maps of orientation preference (OP) and ocular dominance (OD), serves as a model system.
  • While OP and OD maps can be individually altered by visual input, their spatial relationship was thought to be fixed.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether the spatial relationship between orientation preference and ocular dominance maps in the visual cortex can be modified by visual experience.
  • To test the hypothesis that biased visual input can alter the arrangement of these maps.

Main Methods:

  • A computational model was used to predict the effects of specific visual input biases.
  • Cats were reared with orthogonally oriented cylindrical lenses over each eye to experimentally manipulate visual input.
  • The resulting changes in orientation preference and ocular dominance maps were analyzed.

Main Results:

  • The computational model predicted that biasing visual input to orthogonal orientations would shift orientation preference pinwheels towards ocular dominance column borders.
  • Experimental results confirmed this prediction, showing a modification in the spatial relationship between OP and OD maps.
  • This demonstrates that the arrangement of these maps is not immutable.

Conclusions:

  • The spatial relationship between orientation preference and ocular dominance maps in the visual cortex can be altered by visual experience.
  • This finding reveals a greater degree of brain plasticity in response to sensory input during development than previously understood.
  • The study challenges the notion of an immutable spatial relationship between fundamental visual maps.