Hierarchical and homotopic correlations of spontaneous neural activity within the visual cortex of the sighted and blind.

ABSTRACT: Spontaneous neural activity within visual cortex is synchronized by both monosynaptic, hierarchical connections between visual areas and indirect, network-level activity. We examined the interplay of hierarchical and network connectivity in human visual cortex by measuring the organization of spontaneous neural signals within the visual cortex in total darkness using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Twenty-five blind (14 congenital and 11 postnatal) participants with equally severe vision loss and 22 sighted subjects were studied. An anatomical template based on cortical surface topology was used for all subjects to identify the quarter-field components of visual areas V1-V3, and assign retinotopic organization. Cortical visual areas that represent the same quadrant of the vis

SUBMITTER: Butt OH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4322716 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature