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Abstract
Extended periods of complete darkness have long been used among other early experiential manipulations to explore the role of visual experience in the development of the visual pathways. In the last decade, short periods of darkness have been used to facilitate the imposition of different or conflicting visual input each day to explore the manner by which processes of perinatal development controlled by gene action are refined subsequently by visual experience. Very recently, periods of complete darkness of intermediate length (10 days) have been shown to promote very fast recovery from amblyopia induced by prior monocular deprivation (MD). When imposed immediately after a period of MD, in certain circumstances, darkness appears to insulate against the development of amblyopia. It is proposed that complete darkness may reverse maturation of many of the so‐called braking molecules in the visual cortex, so that it reverts to a more juvenile state.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank Drs Kathryn Murphy, Frank Sengpiel, Peter Kind, Sam Schartzkopf and especially Kevin Duffy for many discussions and their invaluable contributions to this research. The research also benefitted from the many important contributions of various technicians and students, particularly Jan Kennie, Kaitlyn Holman, Matthew Smithen, Katleyn MacNeill and Jordan Boudreau. Special thanks to the cats and particularly Batman, Robin, Tipster, Joker, Bah, Humbug, Scroogina, Novak and Samantha. The research was supported by grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (A7660), from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to Kevin Duffy, N. Crowder and DEM (102653) and from the Critical Period Revisited Network of the James S MacDonnell Foundation.