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Cortical response to transient and long-term visual field loss.
Marco Ninghetto1, Georgios A Keliris2, Kamil Szulborski3
1Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, PAS, 3 Pasteur Street, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland.
Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)
|September 9, 2025
Summary
Visual cortex receptive fields adapt to vision loss. Central vision loss increases receptive field size in dorsal visual areas, while peripheral loss shows varied effects, suggesting functional divisions in visual processing.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Visual Neuroscience
- Functional Neuroimaging
Background:
- Receptive fields (RFs) in visual cortices typically increase in size from the central to peripheral visual field.
- Photoreceptor degeneration, such as Stargardt disease (STGD) and Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), causes central and peripheral vision loss, respectively.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate receptive field (RF) adaptation in visual areas V1, V2, and V3 in patients with central (STGD) or peripheral (RP) vision loss.
- To model peripheral vision loss in controls by limiting the visual field to the central 10°.
Main Methods:
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to map population RFs in V1, V2, and V3.
- Comparison of RF sizes in STGD patients, RP patients, and healthy controls with experimentally induced peripheral vision loss.
Main Results:
- Central vision loss (STGD) resulted in increased RF size in dorsal V1, V2, and V3.
- Peripheral vision loss (RP) led to increased RF size in V1 but decreased size in V2.
- Experimentally induced peripheral loss in controls increased RF size in V1 and decreased it in V2 and V3.
Conclusions:
- Central visual field loss induces a dorsal-ventral difference in RF size adaptation within visual cortices.
- These findings highlight the functional relevance of dorsal-ventral divisions in cortical visual representations and their adaptive capabilities.
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