On the question of neuronal plasticity in the mature visual cortex

Abstract

In adult cats one eye was surgically immobilized by sectioning the eye muscles, or inverted by 180 degrees rotation, or pattern-deprived by suturing the eyelids for 1-12 weeks. Orientation and direction selectivity of cortical cells and binocularity were preserved; no shift in the ocular dominance distribution toward either eye was found. The visual cortex of adult cats is therefore not susceptible to changes in the content of the visual input.