The ability to perceive and respond to environmental stimuli emerges in the absence of sensory experience. Spontaneous retinal activity prior to eye opening guides the refinement of retinotopy and eye-specific segregation in mammals, but its role in the development of higher-order visual response properties remains unclear. Here, we describe a transient window in neonatal mouse development during which the spatial propagation of spontaneous retinal waves resembles the optic flow pattern generated by forward self-motion. We show that wave directionality requires the same circuit components that form the adult direction-selective retinal circuit and that chronic disruption of wave directionality alters the development of direction-selective responses of superior colliculus neurons. These data demonstrate how the developing visual system patterns spontaneous activity to simulate ethologically relevant features of the external world and thereby instruct self-organization.

感知和响应环境刺激的能力是在没有感官体验的情况下出现的。睁眼前的自发视网膜活动指导哺乳动物视网膜的细化和眼睛特异性分离，但其在高阶视觉反应特性发展中的作用仍不清楚。在这里，我们描述了新生小鼠发育中的一个瞬态窗口，在此期间，自发视网膜波的空间传播类似于前向自运动产生的光流模式。我们表明波方向性需要形成成人方向选择性视网膜电路的相同电路组件，并且波方向性的慢性破坏会改变上丘神经元方向选择性反应的发展。