The pulvinar regulates plasticity in human visual cortex

Abstract In normally sighted human adults, two-hours of monocular deprivation is sufficient to transiently alter ocular dominance. Here we show that this is associated with a reduction of functional connectivity between the pulvinar and early visual cortex, selective for the pulvinar-to-V1 directionality. Across participants, the strength of the pulvinar-to-V1 connectivity was negatively correlated with the ocular dominance shift, implying less plasticity in participants with stronger influence of the pulvinar over V1. Our results support a revised model of adult V1 plasticity, where short-term reorganization is gated by modulatory signals relayed by the pulvinar. Teaser Short-term monocular deprivation triggers a reorganization of the visual processing network, measured with 7TfMRI in human adults. Competing Interest Statement The authors have declared no competing interest. Footnotes Figures 3, S3 and S5 were added.