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Altered visual population receptive fields in human albinism

Alvarez, I; Smittenaar, R; Handley, SE; Liasis, A; Sereno, MI; Schwarzkopf, DS; Clark, CA; (2020) Altered visual population receptive fields in human albinism. Cortex , 128 pp. 107-123. 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.03.016. Green open access

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Abstract

Albinism is a congenital disorder where misrouting of the optic nerves at the chiasm gives rise to abnormal visual field representations in occipital cortex. In typical human development, the left occipital cortex receives retinal input predominantly from the right visual field, and vice-versa. In albinism, there is a more complete decussation of optic nerve fibers at the chiasm, resulting in partial representation of the temporal hemiretina (ipsilateral visual field) in the contralateral hemisphere. In this study, we characterize the receptive field properties for these abnormal representations by conducting detailed fMRI population receptive field mapping in a rare subset of participants with albinism and no ocular nystagmus. We find a nasal bias for receptive field positions in the abnormal temporal hemiretina representation. In addition, by modelling responses to bilateral visual field stimulation in the overlap zone, we found evidence in favor of discrete unilateral receptive fields, suggesting a conservative pattern of spatial selectivity in the presence of abnormal retinal input.

Type: Article
Title: Altered visual population receptive fields in human albinism
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2020.03.016
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2020.03.016
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
Keywords: Visual cortex, Albinism, Functional MRI, pRF, Plasticity
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > UCL GOS Institute of Child Health > Developmental Neurosciences Dept
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10106305
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