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In a memory-guided drawing task under blindfolded conditions, we have recently used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) to demonstrate that the primary visual cortex (V1) may operate as the visuo-spatial buffer, or “sketchpad,” for working memory. The results implied, however, a modality-independent or amodal form of its operation. In the present study, to validate the role of V1 in non-visual memory, we eliminated not only the visual input but all levels of visual processing by replicating the paradigm in a congenitally blind individual. Our novel Cognitive-Kinesthetic method was used to train this totally blind subject to draw complex images guided solely by tactile memory. Control tasks of tactile exploration and memorization of the image to be drawn, and memory-free scribbling were also included. FMRI was run before training and after training. Remarkably, V1 of this congenitally blind individual, which before training exhibited noisy, immature, and non-specific responses, after training produced full-fledged response time-courses specific to the tactile-memory drawing task. The results reveal the operation of a rapid training-based plasticity mechanism that recruits the resources of V1 in the process of learning to draw. The learning paradigm allowed us to investigate for the first time the evolution of plastic re-assignment in V1 in a congenitally blind subject. These findings are consistent with a non-visual memory involvement of V1, and specifically imply that the observed cortical reorganization can be empowered by the process of learning to draw.

Retinotopic mapping is a key property of organization of occipital cortex, predominantly on the medial surface but increasingly being identified in lateral and ventral regions. The retinotopic organization of early visual areas V1-3 is well established, although anatomical landmarks can help to resolve ambiguities in poorly-defined functional maps. New morphing techniques are now available to define the metric mappings quantitatively within each retinotopic area. In the dorsal occipital regions, there is fair agreement that area V3A should be split into separate V3A and V3B maps, and that beyond them lies a further area, V7. We specify the eccentricity mapping of both V3B and V7 for the first time, showing how the latter is roughly parallel to the meridional mapping and offering formal accounts of such paradoxical behavior. In ventral occipital cortex, we support the analysis of Zeki and Bartels [1] and Wade et al.[2] that V4 maps the full hemifield, and show the existence of two more areas, a ventromedial map of the lower quadrant, emphasizing the upper vertical meridian, and an adjacent area with a dominant foveal representation. In lateral cortex, the motion area defined by a motion localizer shows pronounced retinotopy, particularly in the eccentricity parameter. A dorsolateral map between the motion area and V3B, which represents the lower quadrant with an emphasis the foveal part of the lower vertical meridian, may be a counterpart to the ventromedial map.

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