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A Gaze-Contingent Display Framework for Perceptual Learning Research with Simulated Central Vision Loss

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Published on: April 11, 2025

Complex three-dimensional rearing environments amplify compensatory plasticity following early blindness.

Deepa L Ramamurthy^1,2, Mackenzie Englund³, Tanner J Kovacs^3,4

¹Center for Neuroscience, University of California, Davis, Davis CA 95618 deepar@ucr.edu.

|July 7, 2026

Summary

Early blindness in opossums leads to brain plasticity. Enriched environments amplify these changes, showing that sensory experience, not just deprivation, drives neural reorganization and adaptive behaviors.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Sensory processing
Developmental plasticity

Background:

The neocortex adapts to sensory loss, especially early in life.
It's debated whether this reorganization stems from deprivation or spared-sense use.

Purpose of the Study:

Investigate how rearing environments affect neural responses in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) after early visual loss.
Determine if sensory deprivation or experience with spared senses drives cortical plasticity.

Main Methods:

Opossums (Monodelphis domestica) underwent bilateral enucleation in early development.
Animals were reared in enriched or standard environments.
Neural responses in S1 and behavioral adaptations were assessed in adulthood.

Main Results:

Enriched rearing promoted adaptive exploration and gap crossing in both sighted and early blind opossums.
Enriched rearing increased S1 neural response selectivity to whisker touch.
Receptive field alterations in S1 were amplified in enriched early blind animals, driven by tactile experience.

Conclusions:

Environmental complexity amplifies cortical reorganization following early sensory loss.
Experience using spared senses, rather than deprivation alone, drives neural and behavioral plasticity.
Rearing environment critically shapes functional outcomes after early sensory impairment.