It is known that sensory deprivation, including postnatal whisker trimming, can lead to severe deficits in the firing rate properties of cortical neurons. Recent results indicate that development of synchronous discharge among cortical neurons is also activity influenced, and that correlated discharge is significantly impaired following loss of bilateral sensory input in rats. Here we investiga...

BACKGROUND There is now ample evidence that schizophrenia is due to an interaction between genetic and (early) environmental factors which disturbs normal development of the central nervous system and ultimately leads to the development of clinical symptoms. Recently, we showed that a single 24-hour period of maternal deprivation of rat pups at postnatal day 9 leads to a disturbance in prepulse...

To determine whether brief sensory deprivation (SD) would act to decrease perceptual field dependence, 41 male and female college students were given the Rod and Frame Test (RFT). 1 of the group then underwent 1 hr. of SD, after which a 2nd RFT indicated a significant decrease (p < .01) in errors of orientation. The control group was given the RFT and their activity was controlled during the 1 ...

Over the past decade, a growing area of research has focused on adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and their impacts on neural and developmental outcomes. Work in the field to-date has generally conceptualized ACEs in terms of exposure to stress while overlooking the underlying dimensions of environmental experience that may distinctly impact neural development. Here, we propose a novel frame...

Sensory experience profoundly shapes neural circuitry of juvenile brain. Although the visual cortex of adult rodents retains a capacity for plasticity in response to monocular visual deprivation, the nature of this plasticity and the neural circuit changes that accompany it remain enigmatic. Here, we investigate differences between adult and juvenile ocular dominance plasticity using Fourier op...

The present study investigated the effects of two herbal components (BACCOFF and DIPSTOP) of a commercially available smokeless tobacco treatment program for reducing subjective withdrawal symptoms during deprivation. One component, BACCOFF, is a non-nicotinic chew. The second component, DIPSTOP, is a liquid containing the alkaloid lobeline, which to some extent mimics peripheral nicotinic effe...

Recent work has shown that visual deprivation of humans during a critical period leads to motion area MT+ responding to auditory motion. This cross-sensory plasticity, an important form of brain reorganization, may be mediated by top-down brain circuits from pre-frontal cortex.

We measured ocular alignment in the horizontal direction for 17 monkeys reared under deprivation paradigms that involved monocular defocus, monocular occlusion and optically corrected aphakia coupled with continuous or partial occlusion of the fellow eye. Alignment was measured at 3 and 7 months with a photographic corneal light reflex method. Results showed that a majority of the monkeys in ea...