The functional connectivity of the human visual system during development

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The objective of my research program is to understand the functional organization and architecture of the human visual system during development and identify the mechanisms responsible for its prolonged and heterogeneous development. Research on visual development has long been guided by two hypotheses: visual development is complete during infancy and different visual functions mature at the same rate. This explains why there are still few studies of visual development beyond infancy. A series of recent studies from our laboratory cast serious doubt about these two hypotheses. We found that several visual functions do not attain maturity before late childhood or early adolescence and that not all visual functions mature at the same rate. To better understand the mechanisms of this protracted maturation, we propose to investigate for the first time the changes in the functional connectivity and functional networks of the developing visual system. Functional connectivity represents the connections and network structure that link spatially separated brain regions through local and distal cortical circuits to facilitate functional integration. The maturation of most visual functions depends on the development of functional connectivity within and between specialized visual areas, however this has yet to be studied. We will record visual evoked potentials to specific marker tasks that elicit neuronal activation in different regions of the visual pathway. This will permit us to study the development of 1) inter-regional connectivity, 2) intra-regional connectivity, and 3) functional network structures. This research is important for our understanding of human brain development because it will provide key insight about the organisation of the visual system and permit us to propose a working model of functional connectivity in the human visual system. Several aspects of the research programme are innovative. We will provide the first systematic and controlled investigation of functional connectivity of visual function during of development, from early childhood to adulthood. This will allow us to identify the neurophysiological characteristics of functional connectivity and understand the fundamental interactions among the visual structures that give rise to different aspects of visual perception. Our results will provide insight about how the different tiers of visual processing integrate and filter information, as well as the mechanisms responsible for the development of visual perception. This will be of great interest for researchers in the fields of neuroscience, computer science, artificial intelligence, biology, engineering and medicine. This could also contribute to industrial advances in the development of image processing technologies. Lastly, our research will enable Canadian researchers to be international leaders in the field of developmental neurosciences.