Heritable functional architecture in human visual cortex

Abstract

How much of the functional organization of our visual system is inherited? Here we tested the heritability of retinotopic maps in human visual cortex using functional magnetic resonance imaging. We demonstrate that retinotopic organization shows a closer correspondence in monozygotic (MZ) compared to dizygotic (DZ) twin pairs, suggesting a partial genetic determination. Using population receptive field (pRF) analysis to examine the preferred spatial location and selectivity of these neuronal populations, we estimate a heritability around 30% for polar angle preferences and spatial selectivity, as quantified by pRF size, in extrastriate areas V2 and V3. Our findings are consistent with heritability in both the macroscopic arrangement of visual regions and stimulus tuning properties of visual cortex. This could constitute a neural substrate for variations in a range of perceptual effects, which themselves have been found to be at least partially genetically determined. These findings also add convergent evidence for the hypothesis that functional map topology is linked with cortical morphology. HighlightsO_LIWe analyzed retinotopic maps from monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairs C_LIO_LIVisual field maps in V1-V3 are more similar in monozygotic twins C_LIO_LIHeritability is greater in V1 and V3 for polar angle and population receptive field sizes C_LIO_LIEccentricity maps show lesser degree of heritability C_LIO_LIFurther evidence for link between cortical morphology and topology of retinotopic maps C_LI Graphical Abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=182 HEIGHT=200 SRC="FIGDIR/small/077545v4_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (77K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@ceacd6org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@b51604org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@b860f8org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@e67398_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG