Neural Pathways Conveying Novisual Information to the Visual Cortex

The visual cortex has been traditionally considered as a stimulus-driven, unimodal system with a hierarchical organization. However, recent animal and human studies have shown that the visual cortex responds to non-visual stimuli, especially in individuals with visual deprivation congenitally, indic...

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Main Authors: Wen Qin, Chunshui Yu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Hindawi Limited 2013-01-01
Series:Neural Plasticity
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/864920
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spelling doaj-e3199f4a73204ee39f5786149535eef82020-11-25T01:56:40ZengHindawi LimitedNeural Plasticity2090-59041687-54432013-01-01201310.1155/2013/864920864920Neural Pathways Conveying Novisual Information to the Visual CortexWen Qin0Chunshui Yu1Department of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, ChinaDepartment of Radiology and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Functional Imaging, Tianjin Medical University General Hospital, Tianjin 300052, ChinaThe visual cortex has been traditionally considered as a stimulus-driven, unimodal system with a hierarchical organization. However, recent animal and human studies have shown that the visual cortex responds to non-visual stimuli, especially in individuals with visual deprivation congenitally, indicating the supramodal nature of the functional representation in the visual cortex. To understand the neural substrates of the cross-modal processing of the non-visual signals in the visual cortex, we firstly showed the supramodal nature of the visual cortex. We then reviewed how the nonvisual signals reach the visual cortex. Moreover, we discussed if these non-visual pathways are reshaped by early visual deprivation. Finally, the open question about the nature (stimulus-driven or top-down) of non-visual signals is also discussed.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/864920
collection DOAJ
language English
format Article
sources DOAJ
author Wen Qin
Chunshui Yu
spellingShingle Wen Qin
Chunshui Yu
Neural Pathways Conveying Novisual Information to the Visual Cortex
Neural Plasticity
author_facet Wen Qin
Chunshui Yu
author_sort Wen Qin
title Neural Pathways Conveying Novisual Information to the Visual Cortex
title_short Neural Pathways Conveying Novisual Information to the Visual Cortex
title_full Neural Pathways Conveying Novisual Information to the Visual Cortex
title_fullStr Neural Pathways Conveying Novisual Information to the Visual Cortex
title_full_unstemmed Neural Pathways Conveying Novisual Information to the Visual Cortex
title_sort neural pathways conveying novisual information to the visual cortex
publisher Hindawi Limited
series Neural Plasticity
issn 2090-5904
1687-5443
publishDate 2013-01-01
description The visual cortex has been traditionally considered as a stimulus-driven, unimodal system with a hierarchical organization. However, recent animal and human studies have shown that the visual cortex responds to non-visual stimuli, especially in individuals with visual deprivation congenitally, indicating the supramodal nature of the functional representation in the visual cortex. To understand the neural substrates of the cross-modal processing of the non-visual signals in the visual cortex, we firstly showed the supramodal nature of the visual cortex. We then reviewed how the nonvisual signals reach the visual cortex. Moreover, we discussed if these non-visual pathways are reshaped by early visual deprivation. Finally, the open question about the nature (stimulus-driven or top-down) of non-visual signals is also discussed.
url http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/864920
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