Differential effects of early monocular deprivation on binocular and monocular segments of cat striate cortex

Abstract

Receptive fields of single units were studied in striate cortex of 15 monocularly deprived cats. Most (97%) cells having receptive fields in the central visual region were driven exclusively by the non-deprived eye. Many cells with fields located in the deprived monocular segment were driven by the deprived eye. The large majority of these receptive fields in monocular segment were either abnormal or simple types. In agreement with previous studies, the data suggested that binocular competition does play a role in cortical development. Monocular deprivation caused abnormalities in addition to those caused by binocular competition. Complex cells were more susceptible to deprivation effects than were simple cells.