Single-cell responses in striate cortex of kittens deprived of vision in one eye

This foundational neuroscience study used kittens to reveal how early visual experience shapes the developing brain. By depriving one eye of normal vision during a critical period of early life and then recording from neurons in the visual cortex, the authors found that the deprived eye lost much of its ability to drive cortical cells, while the open eye came to dominate. The work demonstrated that the wiring of the visual cortex is not fixed at birth but is molded by experience during a sensitive developmental window, with profound and lasting effects when normal input is disrupted. Conducted in cats, this research became a cornerstone of understanding neural plasticity and critical periods, with implications for conditions such as amblyopia in humans. It established the kitten visual system as a landmark model for how sensory experience guides the maturation of the brain.