RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Population receptive field and connectivity properties of the early visual cortex in human albinism JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 627265 DO 10.1101/627265 A1 Ahmadi, Khazar A1 Herbik, Anne A1 Wagner, Markus A1 Kanowski, Martin A1 Thieme, Hagen A1 Hoffmann, Michael B. YR 2019 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/05/05/627265.abstract AB In albinism, the pathological decussation of the temporal retinal afferents at the optic chiasm leads to superimposed representations of opposing hemifields in the visual cortex. Here, we assessed the equivalence of the two representations and the cortico-cortical connectivity of the early visual areas. Applying fMRI-based population receptive field (pRF)-mapping (both hemifield and bilateral mapping) and connective field (CF)-modeling, we investigated the early visual cortex in 6 albinotic participants and 4 controls. In albinism, superimposed retinotopic representations of the contra- and ipsilateral visual hemifield were observed on the hemisphere contralateral to the stimulated eye. This was confirmed by the observation of bilateral pRFs during bilateral mapping. Hemifield mapping revealed similar pRF-sizes for both hemifield representations throughout V1 to V3. The typical increase of V1-sampling extent for V3 compared to V2 was not found for the albinotic participants. The similarity of the pRF-sizes for opposing visual hemifield representations highlights the equivalence of the two maps in the early visual cortex. The altered V1-sampling extent in V3 indicates the adaptation of cortico-cortical connections to the abnormal input of the visual cortex. These findings thus suggest that conservative developmental mechanisms are complemented by alterations of the extrastriate cortico-cortical connectivity.HighlightspRF mapping confirms cortical overlay of opposing visual hemifields in albinism.Equivalent information processing of both hemifields is indicated by similar pRF sizes.CF modeling indicates changes to the cortico-cortical connections at the level of V3.