Recovery of visual responses in foveal V1 neurons following bilateral foveal lesions in adult monkey.

Cells in the foveal representation of V1 cortex of adult primates became visually responsive after normal sensory input was removed. Immediately after fovea were lesioned bilaterally, a region was found where no cells' activity could be modulated by visual stimulation. Recordings made in that deafferented zone at greater than 2.5 months after lesions revealed that activity of over half of the cells could be modulated by visual stimuli presented to intact peripheral retina. Although response characteristics made cells with recovered driving quite unlike normal cells, the result suggests a level of visual cortical reorganization previously observed only in immature animals.