Visual experi­ence and brain development

Rashi Pant, Young Researcher in the group of Hector Fellow Brigitte Röder, is first author of the paper “Stimu­lus-evoked and resting-state alpha oscil­la­tions show a linked depen­dence on patterned visual experi­ence for devel­op­ment” published in the journal "NeuroIm­age: Clini­cal”. The study inves­ti­gates the connec­tion between visual experi­ence and brain development.

The research highlights a corre­la­tion between reduced stimu­lus-evoked alpha oscil­la­tions after sight recov­ery and poor visual outcomes. The findings suggest that an impaired inter­ac­tion between top-down and bottom-up process­ing in the visual hierar­chy, indicated by the simul­ta­ne­ous reduc­tion in resting-state and stimu­lus-evoked alpha oscil­la­tions, could contribute to incom­plete behav­ioral recov­ery in individ­u­als with transient congen­i­tal blindness.

Overall, the study concludes that the inter­ac­tion of feedback and feedfor­ward signals, which tunes the early visual cortex to best match the expected visual environ­ment, requires vision during a sensi­tive period in early development.