BINOCULAR INTERACTION IN STRIATE CORTEX OF KITTENS REARED WITH ARTIFICIAL SQUINT

Abstract

BEFORE A KITTEN OPENS ITS EYES, and long before the eyes are used in visual exploration, single cells of the primary visual cortex respond to natural stimulation with the same specificity as is found in the adult (5). This suggests that the anatomical connections between retina and striate cortex are for the most part innate. During the first 3 months of life the connections are highly susceptible to the effects of visual deprivation, to the extent that exclusion of all form and some light from one eye leads to a severe decline in the ability of that eye to influence cortical cells. Anatomical and physiological evidence suggests that the defect is chiefly, though not entirely, a cortical one (7-9). The object of the present study was to influence cortical connections by some means less drastic than covering one or both eyes. We wished if possible to alter the input in such a way that there would be no question of effects on the visual pathway below the level of the striate cortex. A method was suggested by the well-known clinical observation that a child with a squint