Fig. 2: Orientation deprivation leads to PO convergence.

a Photograph of a visual scene in a mouse cage taken without (top) and with (bottom) cylinder lens goggles (inset). Note that only one orientation is present in the bottom image. b Distributions of POs relative to the experienced orientation (at 0°; relative PO: rPO) before (gray) and after (green) 28d of orientation deprivation. Cell numbers are shown as a percentage of the initial total cell count (835 neurons from seven mice). Mean across mice with S.E.M error bars. c Median convergence (∆|rPO|) for different time intervals under normal visual conditions (black, six mice) and orientation-deprived visual conditions (orange, eight mice deprived for seven days; green, seven mice deprived for 28 days). Positive ∆|rPO| indicates changes towards the experienced orientation. Error bars are bootstrapped 95% CIs. d PO convergence could result from neurons whose PO is similar to the experienced orientation (black triangle) drifting less than those with more dissimilar POs. e Alternatively, neurons may drift towards the experienced orientation, while drift magnitude is unaffected. f Initial PO difference from experienced orientation is uncorrelated with drift magnitude (|∆rPO|) after 28-day deprivation. Two-sided Spearman’s correlation r = −0.034 (p = 0.950, n = 414 neurons from seven mice). g Median convergence (∆|rPO|) before and after shuffling drift magnitudes. Error bars are bootstrapped 95% CIs. Two-sided Wilcoxon signed rank z = 0.807, p = 0.419, (n = 414 neurons from seven mice). h Initial PO difference from experienced orientation plotted against convergence (∆|rPO|). n = 414 neurons from seven mice. Gray areas indicate impossible values. i Median convergence (∆|rPO|) before and after shuffling drift directions. Error bars are bootstrapped 95% CIs. Two-sided Wilcoxon signed rank z = 4.19, p = 4.94 × 10⁻⁵ (n = 414 neurons from seven mice). j Distributions of POs relative to the experienced orientation (0°): initial (gray), after 28d orientation deprivation (green), and after 21d of recovery (blue). Cell numbers are shown as a percentage of the initial total cell count. N = 7 mice. Mean across mice with S.E.M error bars. k Relative change in cell numbers from initial to post recovery, for two PO bins (±0° to ±45° and ±45° to ±90° from the experienced orientation). Gray lines are seven individual mice, black line is mean. Two-sided one-sample T tests were used to compare within bin changes (t(6)−0.309, p = 0.768 and t(6)0.998, p = 0.357). l Median PO convergence during orientation deprivation vs. during recovery with 95% CI (n = 335 neurons from seven mice). Source data are provided as a Source Data file.