Critical period plasticity for visual function: definition in monocularly deprived rats using visually evoked potentials.
VEPs were used to study the effects of visual deprivation and to define the critical period in the hooded rat. It is shown that monocular deprivation in young animals reduces both the visual acuity and the contrast sensitivity of the deprived eye and that the depth of attenuation depends upon the age at onset of deprivation. This suggests that the critical period is almost over by 6 weeks postnatally. This simple recording technique might be useful in studying amblyopic children and in defining more clearly the critical period for human vision.
D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual; D009473:Neuronal Plasticity; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D051381:Rats; D013028:Space Perception / Q000502:physiology; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*