PHSL 3061 Lecture Notes - Medial Geniculate Nucleus, Visual Cortex, Stimulus Modality
Document Summary
Today"s class focuses on experiments done in the laboratory of mriganka sur at mit. These experiments address the question of whether the functional specification of sensory cortical areas is intrinsically (genetically) programmed or whether it is determined by extrinsic factors (the nature of the inputs to each area). For example, what makes the visual cortex visual and the auditory cortex auditory? in a beautiful series of experiments, sur and colleagues induced retinal inputs to make synapses in the medial geniculate nucleus (auditory part of the thalamus). The medial geniculate cells, in turn, send their axons to auditory cortex. 29/think%20like%20a%20scientist http://katzaway. net/archives/420: re-wiring the ferret brain, experimental manipulation creating environment where retinal ganglion cell axons grow into medial geniculate nucleus. 242:1437-4: visual responses of cells in re-wired auditory cortex, receptive field properties. 404:841-47: does the animal perceive activity in re-wired auditory cortex. Left visual field right side of brain (normal visual pathways)
