Visual experience reduces the spatial redundancy between cortical feedback inputs and primary visual cortex neurons.

The role of experience in the organization of cortical feedback (FB) remains unknown. We measured the effects of manipulating visual experience on the retinotopic specificity of supragranular and infragranular projections from the lateromedial (LM) visual area to layer (L)1 of the mouse primary visual cortex (V1). LM inputs were, on average, retinotopically matched with V1 neurons in normally and dark-reared mice, but visual exposure reduced the fraction of spatially overlapping inputs to V1. FB inputs from L5 conveyed more surround information to V1 than those from L2/3. The organization of LM inputs from L5 depended on their orientation preference and was disrupted by dark rearing. These observations were recapitulated by a model where visual experience minimizes receptive field overlap between LM inputs and V1 neurons. Our results provide a mechanism for the dependency of surround modulations on visual experience and suggest how expected interarea coactivation patterns are learned in cortical circuits. • Visual experience reduces the receptive field overlap between LM inputs and V1 neurons • LM inputs from L5 convey more surround information to V1 neurons than those from L2/3 • The tuning-dependent organization of LM inputs from L5 requires visual experience • Spatial redundancy minimization explains visual experience effects on LM inputs Dias and Rajan et al. compared the functional organization of cortical feedback inputs in the primary visual cortex of normally and dark-reared mice. They found that visual experience reduces the representational redundancy between feedback inputs and primary visual cortex neurons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]