Schmidt Marianna E, Aganj Iman, Stockmann Jason, Bilgic Berkin, Chang Yulin, Hoge W Scott, Kirilina Evgeniya, Weiskopf Nikolaus, Nasr Shahin
bioRxiv. 2025 Apr 1:2025.03.27.645795. doi: 10.1101/2025.03.27.645795.
Despite their importance in shaping visual perception, functional connectivity between ocular dominance columns (ODCs), the building blocks of neuronal processing within the human primary visual cortex (V1), remains largely unknown. Using high-resolution functional MRI (fMRI), we localized ODCs and assessed their resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) in 11 human adults (3 females). Consistent with anatomical studies in animals, we found stronger rs-FC in the middle compared to deep and superficial cortical depths and selectively stronger rs-FC between ODCs with alike compared to unalike ocular polarity. Beyond what was known from animal models, and consistent with human perceptual biases, we found stronger intra- and interhemispheric rs-FC in peripheral (compared to central) and in dorsal (compared to ventral) V1 subregions. Lastly, we found a significant correlation between rs-FC patterns and ODC maps, supporting the hypothesis that ODC maps can be predicted from rs-FC patterns within V1. These results highlight the heterogeneity in functional connectivity between ODCs across cortical depths and V1 subfields, underscoring their likely association with human perceptual biases.
Our findings provide evidence for selective mesoscale rs-FC between ODCs, aligning with prior anatomical findings in animals.Beyond what is known from animal studies, we demonstrate that the mesoscale rs-FC pattern varies across V1 subregions, aligning with the expected heterogeneity in global visual processing across visual subfields.We provide evidence for the predictability of ODC maps from the rs-FC pattern, establishing one of the first steps toward leveraging rs-FC for segmentation of the visual cortex at mesoscale levels.
尽管眼优势柱（ODCs）在塑造视觉感知方面具有重要性，而眼优势柱是人类初级视觉皮层（V1）内神经元处理的基本组成部分，但其功能连接在很大程度上仍不为人所知。我们使用高分辨率功能磁共振成像（fMRI）对11名成年人（3名女性）的眼优势柱进行了定位，并评估了其静息态功能连接（rs-FC）。与动物解剖学研究一致，我们发现与深层和浅层皮质深度相比，中层的rs-FC更强，并且与不同眼极性的眼优势柱相比，具有相似眼极性的眼优势柱之间的rs-FC选择性更强。超出动物模型已知的范围，并且与人类感知偏差一致，我们发现在外周（与中央相比）和背侧（与腹侧相比）V1子区域中，半球内和半球间的rs-FC更强。最后我们发现rs-FC模式与眼优势柱图谱之间存在显著相关性，支持了可以从V1内的rs-FC模式预测眼优势柱图谱的假设。这些结果突出了跨皮质深度和V1子区域的眼优势柱之间功能连接的异质性，强调了它们可能与人类感知偏差的关联。
我们的研究结果为眼优势柱之间选择性的中尺度rs-FC提供了证据，与之前动物的解剖学研究结果一致。超出动物研究已知的范围，我们证明中尺度rs-FC模式在V1子区域之间存在差异，与整个视觉子区域的全局视觉处理中预期的异质性一致。我们为从rs-FC模式预测眼优势柱图谱提供了证据，这是在中尺度水平利用rs-FC对视觉皮层进行分割的第一步。
