Humans with a transient phase of congenital pattern vision deprivation have been observed to feature prevailing deficits, particularly in higher order visual functions. However, the neural correlates of these prevalent visual impairments remain unclear. To probe different visual processing stages, we measured steady state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) generated by luminance flicker stimuli at 6.1 Hz, with superimposed horizontal periodic motion at 2.1 Hz or 2.4 Hz. SSVEP responses at the fundamental and second harmonic of luminance flicker frequency, and at their intermodulation frequencies with motion information, were analyzed. Three groups were tested: (1) 15 individuals who had suffered a lack of pattern vision from birth due to the presence of bilateral total congenital cataracts (CC group), which were surgically removed between 4 months and 22 years of age, (2) 13 individuals with reversed developmental i.e., later developing cataracts (DC group), and (3) normally sighted control participants (SC group; n = 13) matched in age and sex to the CC individuals. SSVEPs at the second harmonic frequency (i.e., 12.2 Hz) and at the intermodulation frequencies (8.2 Hz, and 8.5 Hz) were attenuated in the CC group. In contrast, fundamental frequency responses (i.e., at 6.1 Hz) were not significantly altered in the CC group compared to the control groups (SC and DC groups). Based on previous evidence on the role of striate vs. extrastriate generators of fundamental vs. second harmonics of SSVEPs, these results provide evidence for a stronger experience dependence of extrastriate than striate cortical processing, and furthermore, suggest a sensitive period for the development of putative nonlinear neural mechanisms hypothesized to mediate visual feature binding.

已经观察到具有先天性模式视觉剥夺的短暂阶段的人类具有普遍的缺陷，特别是在高阶视觉功能方面。然而，这些普遍的视觉障碍的神经相关性仍不清楚。为了探索不同的视觉处理阶段，我们测量了由 6.1 Hz 的亮度闪烁刺激产生的稳态视觉诱发电位 (SSVEP)，叠加的水平周期性运动为 2.1 Hz 或 2.4 Hz。分析了亮度闪烁频率的基波和二次谐波以及它们与运动信息的互调频率的 SSVEP 响应。测试了三组：（1）15 名因双侧全先天性白内障而从出生就缺乏图案视力的人（CC 组），在 4 个月至 22 岁之间通过手术切除，(2) 13 名逆向发育个体，即后来发展为白内障的个体（DC 组），和 (3) 正常视力的对照参与者（SC 组；n = 13）年龄匹配和 CC 个人的性行为。二次谐波频率（即 12.2 Hz）和互调频率（8.2 Hz 和 8.5 Hz）的 SSVEP 在 CC 组中被衰减。相反，与对照组（SC 和DC 组）相比，CC 组的基频响应（即6.1 Hz）没有显着改变。基于先前关于纹状体与纹状体发生器的作用的证据。SSVEP 的基波与二次谐波，这些结果提供了证据表明纹状体比纹状体皮层处理对纹状体的经验依赖性更强，此外，