Interhemispheric effects on map organization following simulated cortical lesions.

During recent years there has been increasing use of neural models to investigate the implications of hypotheses about brain and cognitive disorders. Here we systematically study the effects of sudden simulated lesions on cortical maps in a neural model consisting of left and right hemispheric regions connected by a corpus callosum. The model identifies conditions under which damage to one hemispheric region leads to reorganization of the contralateral, intact hemispheric region. The intact hemisphere's participation in the recovery process is found to be a function of pre-existing map lateralization/symmetry and lesion size, indicating that interpretation of future experimental work should take these factors into account.