Abstract
Functional organization of the visual cortex is largely consistent across individuals. However, it is not clear to what extent the functional connectivity (FC) patterns between visual cortex and other areas vary across individuals, nor is it clear to what extent these connectivity patterns are shaped by experience. Central vision loss provides an excellent model to investigate visual system plasticity because different features of experience impact the same participants, i.e. sensory deprivation in central vision and increased usage of parts of peripheral vision. We studied whole-brain FC patterns for parts of primary visual cortex (V1) corresponding to parts of retina associated with increased and decreased use. We performed both group-level and individual-specific analyses in 21 participants with central vision loss and 22 participants with healthy or corrected-to-normal vision. Group-level FC results revealed that participants with central vision loss have reduced connectivity between sensory-deprived portions of V1 and temporo-parieto-occipital cortical areas, compared to controls. Group-level comparisons did not show any statistically significant difference in mean connection strength to areas of V1 corresponding to increased usage. However, when we implemented an individual-specific approach, we observed that both increased and decreased usage leads to alterations in FC patterns. Results suggested that increased usage leads to idiosyncratic changes in connections whereas decreased usage leads to more stereotyped connection patterns. Further, FC patterns to parts of V1 that process peripheral vision are more stereotyped than patterns of connections to central vision (F(1,10877)=8.5697, p=0.0034), whereas they are equally stereotyped in patients with central vision loss (F(1,1447)=0.34051, p=0.56). Thus, more nuanced changes in connections can be observed when inter-individual variability is taken into account. Overall, our study emphasizes the diversity in patterns of brain plasticity following central vision loss and highlights that FC from V1 maintains the capacity to adapt in adulthood.