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Ready to experience: Binocular function is turned on earlier in preterm infants| old_uid | 12032 |
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| title | Ready to experience: Binocular function is turned on earlier in preterm infants |
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| start_date | 2013/01/28 |
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| schedule | 11h-12h30 |
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| online | no |
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| summary | While there is a great deal of knowledge regarding the phylo- and ontogenetic plasticity of the neocortex, the precise nature of environmental impact on the newborn human brain is still one of the most controversial issues of neuroscience. The leading model-system of experience-dependent brain development is binocular vision, also called stereopsis. Stereopsis provides accurate depth perception by aligning the two eyes' views in some of the rodents, and in most carnivores, primates and humans. The binocular system is unique among other cognitive capacities because it is alike across a large number of species, therefore, a remarkable collection of molecular, cellular, network, and functional data is available to advance the understanding of human development. This system is also unique in terms of the well-defined timeline of developmental eventswhich persistently brings it into the limelight of studies on cortical plasticity.
To address the origin of early plasticity of the binocular system in humans, we studied preterm human neonates as compared to full-term infants. We asked whether early additional postnatal experience, during which preterm infants have an approximately 2 months of extra environmental stimulation and self-generated movement, leads to achange in the developmental timing of binocular function. It is remarkable that the extra stimulation time leads to a clear advantage in the cortical detection of binocular correlation. In spite of the immaturity of the visual pathways, the visual cortex is ready to accept environmental stimulation right after birth. The results suggest that the developmental processes preceding the onset of binocular function are not pre-programmed, and that the mechanisms turning on stereopsis are extremely experience-dependent in humans. This finding opens up a number of further queries with respect to human-specific cortical plasticity, and calls for comparative developmental studies across mammalian species. |
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| responsibles | Rämä, Izard |
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