<p>One great example of such plasticity is the ability of early-blind people to utilize their V1 area to read Braille:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v389/n6647/abs/389180a0.html">Functional relevance of cross-modal plasticity in blind humans</a> (Cohen et al., 1997)</p>

<p>Excerpt from the abstract:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>We conclude that blindness from an early age can cause the visual
  cortex to be recruited to a role in somatosensory processing.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-09T16:15:36.433Z
2013-08-09T16:15:36.433Z
Dvir Adler
<p>Yes, the visual cortex is plastic, even in adults:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>We measured adaptation in the responses of populations of cat V1
  neurons to stimulus ensembles with markedly different statistics of
  stimulus orientation. We found that adaptation served two homeostatic
  goals. First, it maintained equality in the time-averaged responses
  across the population. Second, it maintained independence in
  selectivity across the population.</p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v16/n6/full/nn.3382.html">http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v16/n6/full/nn.3382.html</a></p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Plasticity is invoked for encoding information during perceptual learning, by internally representing the regularities of the visual environment, which is useful for facilitating intermediate-level vision--contour integration and surface segmentation. The same mechanisms have adaptive value for functional recovery after CNS damage, such as that associated with stroke or neurodegenerative disease. A common feature to plasticity in primary visual cortex (V1) is an association field that links contour elements across the visual field. The circuitry underlying the association field includes a plexus of long-range horizontal connections formed by cortical pyramidal cells. These connections undergo rapid and exuberant sprouting and pruning in response to removal of sensory input, which can account for the topographic reorganization following retinal lesions. </p>
</blockquote>

<p><a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22841310">http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22841310</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-08-09T14:15:35.743Z
2013-08-09T14:15:35.743Z
Keegan Keplinger
<p>I've been searching about this but all I found was this presentation, which is a bit too technical for me to understand, e.g: <a href="http://www.cns.nyu.edu/csh/csh06/PDFs/Dan.pdf">Visual Cortical Plasticity</a></p>

<p>In what way does neuroplasticity affect the visual cortex?</p>

<p>For example, a person that wears glasses, if he/she stopped using them completely or from time to time, will the visual perception and interpretation of blurred data get better by just training? Will that blur also be reduced with training?</p>

<vision><plasticity>
Is the concept of neuroplasticity applicable to visual cortex and how does it affect visual perception?
Enoque Duarte
# Is the concept of neuroplasticity applicable to visual cortex and how does it affect visual perception?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-08-09)

I've been searching about this but all I found was this presentation, which is a bit too technical for me to understand, e.g: [Visual Cortical Plasticity](http://www.cns.nyu.edu/csh/csh06/PDFs/Dan.pdf)

In what way does neuroplasticity affect the visual cortex?

For example, a person that wears glasses, if he/she stopped using them completely or from time to time, will the visual perception and interpretation of blurred data get better by just training? Will that blur also be reduced with training?

**Tags:** vision, plasticity


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## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2013-08-09. Score: 5 | Accepted answer

Yes, the visual cortex is plastic, even in adults:

> We measured adaptation in the responses of populations of cat V1
> neurons to stimulus ensembles with markedly different statistics of
> stimulus orientation. We found that adaptation served two homeostatic
> goals. First, it maintained equality in the time-averaged responses
> across the population. Second, it maintained independence in
> selectivity across the population.

<http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/v16/n6/full/nn.3382.html>

> Plasticity is invoked for encoding information during perceptual learning, by internally representing the regularities of the visual environment, which is useful for facilitating intermediate-level vision--contour integration and surface segmentation. The same mechanisms have adaptive value for functional recovery after CNS damage, such as that associated with stroke or neurodegenerative disease. A common feature to plasticity in primary visual cortex (V1) is an association field that links contour elements across the visual field. The circuitry underlying the association field includes a plexus of long-range horizontal connections formed by cortical pyramidal cells. These connections undergo rapid and exuberant sprouting and pruning in response to removal of sensory input, which can account for the topographic reorganization following retinal lesions.

<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22841310>


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### Answer by username_1 on 2013-08-09. Score: 5

One great example of such plasticity is the ability of early-blind people to utilize their V1 area to read Braille:

[Functional relevance of cross-modal plasticity in blind humans](http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v389/n6647/abs/389180a0.html) (Cohen et al., 1997)

Excerpt from the abstract:

> We conclude that blindness from an early age can cause the visual
> cortex to be recruited to a role in somatosensory processing.


---

