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Abstract #1668

The Effect of Light and Eyes Opening on Spontaneous Activity in the Visual Cortex

Marta Bianciardi1, Masaki Fukunaga1, Jacco A. de Zwart1, Jeff H. Duyn1

1Advanced MRI Section, LFMI, NINDS, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA, Bethesda, MD, USA


Resting state spontaneous activity is widely used to study the functional connectivity in neurological diseases, but its functional role is still unknown. Aim of the present study was to investigate the source of spontaneous activity in the visual cortex, in particular whether it is due to the presence/absence of light or to endogenous processing independent of the visual input (luminance level). Our results show that the amplitude of spontaneous activity in the visual cortex is not modulated by the visual input, but it is reduced by processes associated to eyes opening even in absence of light.