"Matt Jones" <jonesmat at physiology.wisc.edu>
> I have not yet seen the other posts you referred to, but I have two
> brief comments about thislast one:
>> 1) It's one thing to note that V1 connetcs to V2, V2 connetcs to V4,
> etc. It's quite another thing to say that these connections aren't
> modified by experience. Such connections between large areas are made
> of thousands of individual connections between individual neurons. For
> example, is the -number- of axons contained in the projection from V1
> to V2 fixed by genetics, or is it subject to refinement through
> experience. Is the number and location of synapses that each axon
> makes fixed? True, these issues don't change the fact there "is a
> connection" but they can make all the difference to "what sort of
> connection" it is.
One way to resolve this issue is to understand the mechanism of how
long-range connections between maps are being made. Unfortunately
there arnt much known about these aspects (from what I've read).
But Ive got some more reading...
I guess the most direct approach is to start tracing the pathways from
some identified areas in the cortex, such as V1-V2 and so on. Then one
can find out if the pathways are fixed or variable. Im not sure how
difficult that would be.