# Impact of environmental experience on visual processing and behavior

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF OREGON · 2020 · $181,279

## Abstract

Abstract
Development of a functional nervous system is critically dependent on environmental experience, as
clearly demonstrated by Hubel and Wiesel’s studies showing disruption of neocortical development by
visual deprivation. Despite this knowledge, most studies of visual processing in mice are performed
using animals housed in “standard” conditions optimized for the laboratory setting that likely represent a
state of sensory, physical, and social deprivation. Several studies have shown that environmental
enrichment of standard laboratory housing can enhance aspects of visual system development and
plasticity. However, these individual studies have not quantitatively probed the impact of environmental
enrichment across the full extent of visual processing. In order to comprehensively determine the
impact of environmental experience on vision, we will measure both visual processing at the level of
neural coding and specialization in visual cortex, and visual function through performance on a learned
operant task and an innate ethological behavior, prey capture. This work will reveal new avenues for
future mechanistic studies of how environmental factors influence a wider range of visual functions, and
will enhance the use of mice as a model system for vision.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9843135
- **Project number:** 5R21EY029888-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
- **Principal Investigator:** Cristopher M Niell
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $181,279
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-01-01 → 2021-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9843135

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9843135, Impact of environmental experience on visual processing and behavior (5R21EY029888-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9843135. Licensed CC0.

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