Summary
A novel procedure was used to rear kittens under conditions of controlled visual experience: one eye was exposed only to vertical lines while the other eye, simultaneously, was exposed only to horizontal lines. Stimuli were presented in a mask which the animals wore whenever they were in a lighted environment. At the conclusion of the rearing period elongated receptive fields of units recorded from the visual cortex of these animals were oriented either horizontally or vertically. This is in contrast to the full complement of receptive field orientations found in normal cats. Furthermore, units with vertically oriented fields were predominantly or exclusively activated by the eye which had been exposed to vertical lines, while neurons with horizontally oriented fields were predominantly or exclusively activated by the eye which had been exposed to horizontal lines. Normally, 80–90% of the neurons in the visual cortex of the cat are activated by both eyes. The consequences of this controlled visual experience provide evidence for highly selective modification of neuronal connectivity by environmental conditions prevailing during development. Sufficient control of the visual environment was achieved to allow direct comparison between single unit response characteristics and the specific stimuli presented during rearing.
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Note added in press: This aspect of the work is being pursued further. (Spinelli, D.N., Hirsch, H.V.B.: Genesis of receptive field shapes in single units of cat's visual cortex. Federation Proceedings 30, 615 Abs (1971)).
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Hirsch, H.V.B., Spinelli, D.N. Modification of the distribution of receptive field orientation in cats by selective visual exposure during development. Exp Brain Res 12, 509–527 (1971). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00234246
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00234246