retinotopist

A retinotopist is a researcher who studies retinotopy, the systematic mapping of visual input from the retina onto the brain, particularly the visual cortex. Retinotopy explains how spatial relationships in the retina are preserved in cortical representations, with neighboring retinal locations often mapped to neighboring cortical locations in areas such as V1, V2, and V3. Retinotopists investigate how these maps are organized, how they vary across individuals and species, and how they relate to visual function.

Methods used by retinotopists include functional MRI retinotopy, which uses moving or rotating visual stimuli to evoke reproducible cortical maps; population receptive field (pRF) mapping to estimate the size and position of each voxel’s receptive field; electrophysiological recordings in animals; and various imaging or psychophysical approaches. Research often focuses on the primary visual cortex and on higher visual areas, exploring differences in eccentricity, polar angle, and cortical magnification.

Historically, the concept of retinotopy helped establish that the primary visual cortex preserves spatial layout from the retina. Classic demonstrations of retinotopic organization by early visual researchers laid the groundwork for mapping the visual system. In contemporary practice, retinotopists use standardized mapping protocols to create cortical surface maps and to compare representations across subjects, conditions, and species.

See also retinotopy, visual cortex, population receptive field mapping, fMRI retinotopy.

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