Across sensory areas, neural microcircuits consolidate streams of information into unified representations of the external world. In the carnivore visual cortex, where eye-specific inputs first converge, it has been posited that a single, binocularly aligned modular orientation representation develops independent of sensory experience. In this study of ferret visual cortex using in vivo calcium imaging, we find evidence for a different developmental process. Early in development, contralateral, ipsilateral, or binocular stimulation each yield well-organized modular representations of orientation that display features of mature cortex. However, comparison of these representations reveals considerable misalignment that is evident at both modular and cellular scales. Experience-dependent processes drive reorganization of these three representations toward a single binocularly aligned representation resembling the early binocular representation through shifts in cellular orientation preference. Thus, while orderly modular networks of orientation preference initially arise independent of visual experience, experience is critical for the alignment of these early representations.

在整个感官区域，神经微电路将信息流整合为外部世界的统一表示。在食肉动物的视觉皮层中，特定于眼睛的输入首先汇聚在一起，这被认为是独立于双眼的模块化定向表示发展而与感官体验无关。在这项关于雪貂视觉皮层的体内研究中钙成像，我们发现了不同发育过程的证据。在发展的早期，对侧，同侧或双眼刺激均产生组织良好的方向性模块化表示，显示成熟皮质的特征。但是，对这些表示形式的比较揭示了在模块和细胞规模上都存在明显的未对准现象。依赖于经验的过程通过改变细胞方向的偏好，将这三个表示形式的重组朝着类似于早期双目表示形式的单个双目对准的表示形式进行。因此，尽管最初有序的定向偏好的模块化网络独立于视觉体验，但体验对于对齐这些早期表示至关重要。