The normal development of inferotemporal cortex

Harvard Medical School, Boston MA

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Abstract

? DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The goal of the proposed research is to study the normal development of inferotemporal cortex in infant macaques and to compare normally reared animals to animals who have had drastically altered early visual experience. In adult humans and monkeys discrete regions of the temporal lobe are specialized for processing particular object categories, such as faces, text, bodies, or places. It is unknown how this specialization emerges, and it is not known what the functional significance is of having such specialized domains. To determine and map the earliest organizing principles of inferotemporal cortex, infant monkeys will be scanned, starting at birth, then repeatedly during development, using functional MRI. Our laboratory has developed techniques for scanning alert infant monkeys that are entirely non-invasive, and not harmful to the monkeys; we have demonstrated success in scanning animals young enough that the entire cortical visual pathway is still immature. It will be of fundamental importance to discover what kind aspects of the organization are innate and which are driven by experience.