Functional reallocation of sensory processing resources caused by long-term neural adaptation to altered optics
- University of Rochester Medical Center, United States
- University of Rochester, United States
- University of Minnesota, United States
Abstract
The eye's optics are a major determinant of visual perception. Elucidating how long-term exposure to optical defects affects visual processing is key for understanding the capacity for, and limits of, sensory plasticity. Here, we show evidence of functional reallocation of sensory processing resources following long-term exposure to poor optical quality. Using adaptive optics to bypass all optical defects, we assessed visual processing in neurotypically-developed adults with healthy eyes and with keratoconus—a corneal disease causing severe optical aberrations. Under fully-corrected optical conditions, keratoconus patients showed altered contrast sensitivity, with impaired sensitivity for fine spatial details and better-than-typical sensitivity for coarse details. Both gains and losses in sensitivity were more pronounced in patients experiencing poorer optical quality in their daily life, and mediated by changes in signal enhancement mechanisms. These findings show that adult neural processing adapts to better match the changes in sensory inputs caused by long-term exposure to altered optics.
Data availability
All data are available from the OSF database URL: https://osf.io/p67hy/
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Institutes of Health (R01 EY014999)
- Krystel R Huxlin
- Duje Tadin
- Geunyoung Yoon
National Institutes of Health (R01 EY027314)
- Antoine Barbot
- Krystel R Huxlin
- Duje Tadin
National Institutes of Health (P30 EY001319)
- Krystel R Huxlin
- Duje Tadin
- Geunyoung Yoon
Research to Prevent Blindness
- Krystel R Huxlin
- Duje Tadin
- Geunyoung Yoon
Schmitt Program on Integrative Neuroscience (Postdoctoral Fellowship)
- Antoine Barbot
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Ethics
Human subjects: All experimental protocols were conducted according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by The Research Subjects Review Board at the University of Rochester Medical Center (#53149). Informed written consent was obtained from all participants prior to participation. Participants were compensated $12/hour.
Copyright
© 2021, Barbot et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Functional reallocation of sensory processing resources caused by long-term neural adaptation to altered optics
eLife 10:e58734.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.58734
