If an animal is prevented from receiving visual experience during an early developmental phase, pronounced dysfunctions are observed.
Physiological tests reveal gross abnormalities in the striate cortex.
Cells in visual cortex are either unresponsive of their response characteristics are erratic. Although fewer than normal numbers of binocular cells are found in cats reared with binocular lid suture, a population remains that can be activated by stimulation through either eye. We have studied cortical cells in binocularly deprived cats in order to specify monocular and binocular response characteristics. The primary hypothesis we have examined is that the abnormal response properties of these cells are a result of an irregular structure or substructure of the receptive fields. Kittens were binocularly lid-sutured soon after birth, and were studied physiologically at ages between 7 and 11 months.