The pulvinar regulates plasticity in human visual cortex

In normally sighted human adults, 2 hours of monocular deprivation is sufficient to transiently alter ocular dominance. Here, we show that this is associated with a reduction of functional connectivity between the pulvinar and primary visual cortex (V1), selective for the pulvinar-to-V1 directionality. Across participants, the strength of the pulvinar-to-V1 connectivity was negatively correlated with the ocular dominance shift, implying less plasticity in participants with stronger influence of the pulvinar over V1. Our results support a revised model of adult V1 plasticity, where short-term reorganization is gated by modulatory signals relayed by the pulvinar.