Heritable functional architecture in human visual cortex

Abstract

AbstractHow 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.HighlightsWe analyzed retinotopic maps from monozygotic and dizygotic twin pairsVisual field maps in V1-V3 are more similar in monozygotic twinsHeritability is greater in V1 and V3 for polar angle and population receptive field sizesEccentricity maps show lesser degree of heritabilityFurther evidence for link between cortical morphology and topology of retinotopic mapsGraphical Abstract