Gilbert CD, Wiesel TN. Receptive Field Dynamics in Adult Primary Visual Cortex Nature, Volume 356, March 12, 1992.

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This research removed visual input by focal binocular retinal lesions and recorded from the same cortical sites before and within minutes after making the lesion and found immediate striking increases in receptive field size for cortical cells with receptive fields near the edge of the retinal scotoma. After a few months, even the cortical areas that were initially silenced by the lesion recover visual activity, representing retinotopic loci surrounding the lesion.

Furthermore, anatomical studies show that the spread of geniculocortical afferents is insufficient to account for the cortical recovery. The results indicate that the topographic reorganization within the cortex was largely due to synaptic changes intrinsic to the cortex, perhaps through the plexus of long-range horizontal connections.

Nature, Volume 356, March 12, 1992.