The role of visual experience in aligning sensory and motor maps in the optic tectum of the barn owl

Abstract

The optic tectum contains maps of visual and auditory space that are aligned with a map of spatially directed movement. The map of visual space derives from a stereotypic, pointto-point projection of the retina; however, the maps of auditory space and of movement derive from neural computation and depend on factors that vary across individuals. What brings these maps into mutual registration? In barn owls raised without vision, tectal maps of auditory space and of head movement develop abnormally and are misaligned both with each other and with the map of visual space. Thus, early visual experience enables sensorimotor registration.