Ocular Dominance Column

Ocular Dominance Column

Ocular dominance columns are stripes of neurons in the visual cortex of certain mammals (including humans) that respond preferentially to input from one eye or the other. The columns span multiple cortical layers, and are laid out in a striped pattern across the surface of the striate cortex (V1). The stripes lie perpendicular to the orientation columns.

Ocular dominance columns were important in early studies of cortical plasticity, as it was found that monocular deprivation causes the columns to degrade, with the non-deprived eye assuming control of more of the cortical cells.

It is believed that ocular dominance columns must be important in binocular vision. Surprisingly, however, many squirrel monkeys either lack or partially lack ocular dominance columns, which would not be expected if they are useful. This has led some to question whether they serve a purpose, or are just a byproduct of development.