Publication
Title
Nonlinear population receptive field changes in human area V5/MT + of healthy subjects with simulated visual field scotomas
Author
Abstract
There is extensive controversy over whether the adult visual cortex is able to reorganize following visual field loss (scotoma) as a result of retinal or cortical lesions. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) methods provide a useful tool to study the aggregate receptive field properties and assess the capacity of the human visual cortex to reorganize following injury. However, these methods are prone to biases near the boundaries of the scotoma. Retinotopic changes resembling reorganization have been observed in the early visual cortex of normal subjects when the visual stimulus is masked to simulate retinal or cortical scotomas. It is not known how the receptive fields of higher visual areas, like hV5/MT +, are affected by partial stimulus deprivation. We measured population receptive field (pRF) responses in human area V5/MT + of 5 healthy participants under full stimulation and compared them with responses obtained from the same area while masking the left superior quadrant of the visual field (artificial scotoma or AS). We found that pRF estimations in area hV5/MT + are nonlinearly affected by the AS. Specifically, pRF centers shift towards the AS, while the pRF amplitude increases and the pRF size decreases near the AS border. The observed pRF changes do not reflect reorganization but reveal important properties of normal visual processing under different test-stimulus conditions.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Neuroimage. - New York
Publication
New York : 2015
ISSN
1053-8119
DOI
10.1016/J.NEUROIMAGE.2015.06.085
Volume/pages
120 (2015) , p. 176-190
ISI
000362025000017
Pubmed ID
26146195
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (open access)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 27.07.2015
Last edited 09.10.2023
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