Abstract
In amblyopia, abnormal visual experience leads to an extreme form of eye dominance, in which vision through the nondominant eye is degraded. A key aspect of this disorder is perceptual suppression: the image seen by the stronger eye often dominates during binocular viewing, blocking the image of the weaker eye from reaching awareness. Interocular suppression is the focus of ongoing work aimed at understanding and treating amblyopia, yet its physiological basis remains unknown. We measured binocular interactions invisual cortex of anesthetized amblyopic monkeys (female Macaca nemestrina), using 96-channel “Utah” arrays to record from populations of neurons in V1 and V2. In an experiment reported recently (Hallum et al., 2017), we found that reduced excitatory input from the amblyopic eye (AE) revealed a form of balanced binocular suppression that is unaltered in amblyopia. Here, we report on the modulation of the gain of excitatory signals from the AE by signals from its dominant fellow eye (FE). Using a dichoptic masking technique, we found that AE responses to grating stimuli were attenuated by the presentation of a noise mask to the FE, as in a normal control animal. Responses to FE stimuli, by contrast, could not be masked from the AE. We conclude that a weakened ability of the amblyopic eye to modulate cortical response gain creates an imbalance of suppression that favors the dominant eye.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 8734-8741 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Journal of Neuroscience |
| Volume | 37 |
| Issue number | 36 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 6 2017 |
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Keywords
- Anisometropia
- Binocular interaction
- Dichoptic masking
- Macaque monkey
- Strabismus
- Visual cortex
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Neuroscience(all)
Cite this
Asymmetric dichoptic masking in visual cortex of amblyopic macaque monkeys. / Shooner, Christopher; Hallum, Luke E.; Kumbhani, Romesh D.; García-Marín, Virginia; Kelly, Jenna G.; Majaj, Najib J.; Movshon, J. Anthony; Kiorpes, Lynne.
In: Journal of Neuroscience, Vol. 37, No. 36, 06.09.2017, p. 8734-8741.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Asymmetric dichoptic masking in visual cortex of amblyopic macaque monkeys
AU - Shooner, Christopher
AU - Hallum, Luke E.
AU - Kumbhani, Romesh D.
AU - García-Marín, Virginia
AU - Kelly, Jenna G.
AU - Majaj, Najib J.
AU - Movshon, J. Anthony
AU - Kiorpes, Lynne
PY - 2017/9/6
Y1 - 2017/9/6
N2 - In amblyopia, abnormal visual experience leads to an extreme form of eye dominance, in which vision through the nondominant eye is degraded. A key aspect of this disorder is perceptual suppression: the image seen by the stronger eye often dominates during binocular viewing, blocking the image of the weaker eye from reaching awareness. Interocular suppression is the focus of ongoing work aimed at understanding and treating amblyopia, yet its physiological basis remains unknown. We measured binocular interactions invisual cortex of anesthetized amblyopic monkeys (female Macaca nemestrina), using 96-channel “Utah” arrays to record from populations of neurons in V1 and V2. In an experiment reported recently (Hallum et al., 2017), we found that reduced excitatory input from the amblyopic eye (AE) revealed a form of balanced binocular suppression that is unaltered in amblyopia. Here, we report on the modulation of the gain of excitatory signals from the AE by signals from its dominant fellow eye (FE). Using a dichoptic masking technique, we found that AE responses to grating stimuli were attenuated by the presentation of a noise mask to the FE, as in a normal control animal. Responses to FE stimuli, by contrast, could not be masked from the AE. We conclude that a weakened ability of the amblyopic eye to modulate cortical response gain creates an imbalance of suppression that favors the dominant eye.
AB - In amblyopia, abnormal visual experience leads to an extreme form of eye dominance, in which vision through the nondominant eye is degraded. A key aspect of this disorder is perceptual suppression: the image seen by the stronger eye often dominates during binocular viewing, blocking the image of the weaker eye from reaching awareness. Interocular suppression is the focus of ongoing work aimed at understanding and treating amblyopia, yet its physiological basis remains unknown. We measured binocular interactions invisual cortex of anesthetized amblyopic monkeys (female Macaca nemestrina), using 96-channel “Utah” arrays to record from populations of neurons in V1 and V2. In an experiment reported recently (Hallum et al., 2017), we found that reduced excitatory input from the amblyopic eye (AE) revealed a form of balanced binocular suppression that is unaltered in amblyopia. Here, we report on the modulation of the gain of excitatory signals from the AE by signals from its dominant fellow eye (FE). Using a dichoptic masking technique, we found that AE responses to grating stimuli were attenuated by the presentation of a noise mask to the FE, as in a normal control animal. Responses to FE stimuli, by contrast, could not be masked from the AE. We conclude that a weakened ability of the amblyopic eye to modulate cortical response gain creates an imbalance of suppression that favors the dominant eye.
KW - Anisometropia
KW - Binocular interaction
KW - Dichoptic masking
KW - Macaque monkey
KW - Strabismus
KW - Visual cortex
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85029146822&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85029146822&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1760-17.2017
DO - 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1760-17.2017
M3 - Article
C2 - 28760867
AN - SCOPUS:85029146822
VL - 37
SP - 8734
EP - 8741
JO - Journal of Neuroscience
JF - Journal of Neuroscience
SN - 0270-6474
IS - 36
ER -