APA Dictionary of Psychology

an experimental paradigm in which a nonhuman animal is raised from birth or from the time of eye opening under conditions that restrict its visual experience. This induces long-term changes in the structure and function of its visual system. For example, monocular rearing reduces the number of neurons in the striate cortex that are sensitive to binocular stimulation and alters the structure of the ocular dominance columns; rearing with prism goggles that restrict the orientations that are visible can alter the orientation selectivity of neurons and the orientation columns in the striate cortex.