Sustained Functional Plasticity can be Induced in Human Parietal Cortex with Adaptation to Reversed Visual Input

Sustained Functional Plasticity can be Induced in Human Parietal Cortex with Adaptation to Reversed Visual Input | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Sustained Functional Plasticity can be Induced in Human Parietal Cortex with Adaptation to Reversed Visual Input Alyssa Brewer, Ling Lin, Brian Barton This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5619751/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract As an avenue to explore the extent to which human posterior parietal cortex (PPC) can undergo dynamic reorganization, we used fMRI to investigate the cortical effects of an extreme alteration of visual input. In Experiment-1, subjects adapted to a complete left-right visual-field reversal for two weeks continuously. After 7-10 days, subjects adapted behaviorally, and, in tandem, visual fields in their PPC shifted their visuospatial representations from primarily contralateral to ipsilateral visual field responses. When normal vision was restored, subjects’ behavior and PPC visual-field-map spatial representations returned to normal within one day, indicating that the original contralateral representations were maintained. In Experiment-2, we tested whether these ipsilateral representations persisted by returning the same subjects to the reversed visual environment and showed behavioral and cortical PPC adaptation now occurred within one day. Our results indicate that our subjects’ behavioral adaptation was subserved in PPC visual field maps by functional plasticity: persistent, experience-dependent changes in cortical representations. Understanding such induction of functional plasticity in cortex grants insight into the nature of these visuomotor systems and may foster the development of therapies for cortical damage. Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Cognitive neuroscience/Perception Biological sciences/Neuroscience/Visual system/Extrastriate cortex functional plasticity population receptive fields posterior parietal cortex prism adaptation visual field mapping Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5619751","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":399107069,"identity":"6e88a866-2f60-4089-bab2-421780355c59","order_by":0,"name":"Alyssa Brewer","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAAvUlEQVRIiWNgGAWjYFACHgjFD8QHGBiYSdAi2UCyFoMDYIoILfztZ499+Nhmk298I/nhAYYK68QGQlokzuQlz5zZlma57UYa0KIz6YS1MBzIMWbm3XbYwOxGDsMBxrbDhLXIn39jzPx3238D4xkgLf+I0GJwA2gL47YDBgYSIC0NRGgxvPEumbH3X7KBxJlnBgcSjqUbE9Qidz73MMOPM3YG/O3Jjz98qLGWJagFFSSQpnwUjIJRMApGAS4AALfRQU04g8ueAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8820-1525","institution":"University of California, Irvine","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Alyssa","middleName":"","lastName":"Brewer","suffix":""},{"id":399107070,"identity":"0433b848-c53f-440c-a6b1-1215e7d48d9d","order_by":1,"name":"Ling Lin","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of California, Irvine","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ling","middleName":"","lastName":"Lin","suffix":""},{"id":399107071,"identity":"23924e0c-e2d3-44be-aad5-b0f784288c29","order_by":2,"name":"Brian Barton","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of California Irvine","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Brian","middleName":"","lastName":"Barton","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2024-12-10 23:20:06","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5619751/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5619751/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":73938983,"identity":"a37215cb-5442-4f2c-811c-359b2dcef6dc","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-01-16 07:38:52","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":2140199,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"Brewerprismmanuscriptv2.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5619751/v1_covered_f60f84f8-6b79-402f-8c34-b3f5b3e62b69.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"There is \u003cb\u003eNO\u003c/b\u003e Competing Interest.","formattedTitle":"Sustained Functional Plasticity can be Induced in Human Parietal Cortex with Adaptation to Reversed Visual Input","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"functional plasticity, population receptive fields, posterior parietal cortex, prism adaptation, visual field mapping","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5619751/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5619751/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"As an avenue to explore the extent to which human posterior parietal cortex (PPC) can undergo dynamic reorganization, we used fMRI to investigate the cortical effects of an extreme alteration of visual input. 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