Binding as an enabling mechanism for cross-modal plasticity

Following blindness early in life, the visual cortex adapts to respond to the remaining senses, a phenomenon known as cross-modal plasticity. We propose that this reorganization arises from binding, a general learning mechanism that links co-occurring signals through Hebbian plasticity. Through this mechanism, the deprived visual cortices preserve their functional goals (e.g., motion or form analysis) while adapting computations to the statistics of auditory or tactile inputs. This framework reconciles functional constancy with computational flexibility by specifying how intrinsic circuitry, competitive selection, and top-down modulation jointly optimize functional responses. This view provides a unified account of adaptive organization by framing cross-modal plasticity as a process of feature extraction through binding. The perspective also offers mechanistic guidance for targeted rehabilitation following sensory loss at different stages of life.