Simulation of plasticity in the adult visual cortex

Retinal plasticity has been shown in the adult visual nervous system in mammals. Following a retinal lesion (scotoma) there is a reorganization of the cortical receptive field distribution: cortical neurons selective to visual stimuli in the area of the visual field corresponding to the retinal lesi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biological cybernetics 2001-06, Vol.84 (6), p.445-451
Main Authors: Andrade, M A, Muro, E M, Morán, F
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Age Factors
Animals
Computer Simulation
Eyes & eyesight
Lesions
Mammals
Models, Neurological
Nervous system
Neural networks
Neuronal Plasticity - physiology
Neurons
Plasticity
Retina
Scotoma - physiopathology
Simulation
Visual
Visual Cortex - physiology
Visual fields
Visual Fields - physiology
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Summary:Retinal plasticity has been shown in the adult visual nervous system in mammals. Following a retinal lesion (scotoma) there is a reorganization of the cortical receptive field distribution: cortical neurons selective to visual stimuli in the area of the visual field corresponding to the retinal lesion, become selective to other parts of the visual field. In this work, we study this effect with a self-organizing neural network. In a first stage, the network reaches a pattern of connectivity that represents normal development of neuronal selectivity. The scotoma is simulated by perturbing accordingly the properties of a region of the input layer representing the retina. The system evolves to a new receptive field distribution mainly by means of the reorganization of the intra cortical connectivity. No major change of the geniculo cortical connectivity is detected. This may explain the surprisingly short time scale of the event.
ISSN:0340-1200
1432-0770
DOI:10.1007/PL00007988