2026-10-07 マックス・プランク研究所
＜関連情報＞
- https://www.mpg.de/27018621/the-brain-begins-preparing-for-vision-while-still-in-the-womb
- https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aee9300
集団結合場モデリングにより、胎児期のヒト脳における原始的な網膜局所視覚野の組織が明らかになった Population connective field modeling reveals proto-retinotopic visual cortex organization in the prenatal human brain
So-Hyeon Yoo, Anne-Sophie Kieslinger, and Michael A. Skeide
Science Advances Published:30 Sep 2026
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aee9300
Abstract
The visual space is sampled by cortical field maps in which nearby neuronal populations encode nearby locations of images received from the retina. Whether retinotopic cortical organization already emerges in the neonatal or even prenatal human brain is currently unknown. To answer this question in vivo, we applied population connective field modeling to 871 resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging datasets ranging from prenatal to young adult age. We found topographically organized eccentricity and polar angle connectivity maps in V2 and V3 of the visual cortex as early as the 21st week of gestation. These results highlight that human proto-retinotopic cortical maps develop in the second trimester of pregnancy, predating visual experience.
