Active vision gates ocular dominance plasticity in human adults

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Visual Perception
• Neuroplasticity

Background:

• Primary visual cortex (V1) exhibits adult plasticity, allowing monocular deprivation to enhance the deprived eye's response.
• This homeostatic plasticity is traditionally linked to neuronal competition and response gain changes due to reduced visual input.
• Voluntary action increasingly influences V1 processing, impacting visual perception of self-motion.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if homeostatic plasticity in ocular dominance can be induced without degrading visual image quality.
• To explore the role of visuomotor control and action-contingent visual feedback in adult V1 plasticity.
• To determine if discrepancies between visual input and expected sensory feedback from actions can elicit plasticity.

Main Methods:

• Participants performed a visuomotor task with a controlled visual delay introduced to one eye.
• Ocular dominance plasticity was assessed by measuring changes in visual responses post-task.
• The study manipulated the consistency between visual input and motor commands, rather than visual input quality.

Main Results:

• Homeostatic plasticity in ocular dominance was successfully induced by introducing a visual delay during active visuomotor tasks.
• The findings indicate that plasticity is gated by the consistency between monocular visual input and an individual's actions.
• Degrading image quality was not necessary; altering the role of visual input in action control was sufficient.

Conclusions:

• Action plays a critical role in shaping visual processing and is essential for inducing homeostatic plasticity in the adult brain.
• The consistency between visual perception and motor action is a key factor in adult neuroplasticity.
• Future research can explore how sensorimotor integration drives plasticity in the visual system.