Rewiring cortex: rules of cortical network development

Summary form only given. Specific areas of the cerebral cortex have specific functions in the adult brain. How is this functional specificity achieved? Over the past decade, my laboratory has explored the role of the environment in shaping cortical function. The visual cortex in mammals consists of several areas, each with particular networks that enable it to process vision. Rewiring the brain by inducing retinal projections to innervate the auditory pathway causes the auditory cortex to develop with vision, and a very different pattern of electrical activity in input pathways than that due to audition. Visual inputs significantly alter various aspects of intracortical networks in the rewired auditory cortex, leading to a map of visual space, visual orientation selective responses, and an orientation map in the auditory cortex-features that are typical of the primary visual cortex. The rewired projection also mediates visual behavior, arguing that the functional role of a cortical area can be profoundly influenced by the nature of inputs it receives during development.