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Education

B.App.Sci (University of Melbourne, 1963)
Bsc (University of Melbourne, 1965)
M. App. Sci. (University of Melbourne, 1966)
PhD (University of California, Berkeley, 1968)
PDF (Florida State University) 1968-1970

Research Interests

The research topics listed above are addressed by a combination of experimental techniques but principally rely on the use of a behavioural technique developed in my lab that enables measurement of the visual capabilities of young kittens that have either received normal or abnormal early visual input. For many years my work has examined ways to alleviate visual deficits that arise through abnormal early visual input.

In the last decade this work has been accelerated through collaboration with two of my colleagues (Drs. Kevin Duffy and Nathan Crowder). We have discovered that a 10 day period of total darkness can reverse severe visual deficits induced by early deprivation of visual input to one eye and with Dr. Mark Bear and colleagues at MIT we have shown that similar fast recovery can be produced pharmacologically by temporary inactivation of the retinas of both eyes.

Publications

I have published over 130 papers with a current h index of 50.0, on human visual perception and its development. Over 50 years ago, I developed a method to measure various visual thresholds in kittens that has allowed study of its development in both normal animals as well as in kittens that had received various forms of abnormal early visual experience in order to explore the way in which genetic programs and early visual experience interact in early postnatal life. My papers on vision and the early anatomical and physiological development of the central visual pathways are published in major journals in neuroscience as well as in prestigious general journals.

Selected Publications
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• Mitchell, D.E. My 50 year odyssey to develop behavioral methods to let me seeÌý quickly how well kittens see. eNeuro Ìý24.2025
• Mitchell, D. E., & Maurer, D. (2022). Critical periods in vision revisited.ÌýAnnual Review of Vision Science,Ìý8(1), 291–321.Ìýhttps://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-vision-090721-110411
• Mitchell, D.E., Crowder, N.A. and Duffy, K.R. The critical period for darkness-induced recovery of the vision of the amblyopic eye following early monocular deprivation. Journal of Vision 2019:19(6):25, 1–13, https://doi.org/10.1167/19.6.25.
• Mitchell, D.E., Aronitz,E., Bobbie-Ansah, P., Crowder, N. and Duffy, K.R. Fast recovery of the amblyopic eye acuity of kittens following brief exposure to total darkness depends on the fellow eye. Neural Plasticity vol. 2019, Article ID 7624837, 11 pages, 2019. .
• Mitchell, D.E. and Sengpiel, F. Animal models of Amblyopia. Visual Neuroscience vol 2018, 35, e017, 7 pages, ArticleÌý 0952-5238/18.Ìý Doi:10.1017/S0952523817000244. Already published in Amblyopia: Challenges and Opportunities. The Lasker/IRRF Initiative for Innovation in Vision Science. Dowling, J.E. (ed.) pp. 77-90. 2017.
• Holman, K.D., Duffy, K.R., and Mitchell, D.E.Ìý Short periods of darkness fail to restore visual or neural plasticity in adult cats. Visual Neuroscience 35, 2018 doi: 10.1017/S0952523817000335
• Duffy, K.R., Fong, M-f, Mitchell, D.E. and Bear, M.F.Ìý Recovery from the anatomical effects of long-term monocular deprivation in cat lateral geniculate nucleus. Journal of Comparative Neurology 526(2): 310-323, 2018. Ìýdoi: 10.1002/cne.24336. 2018
• Fong, M-f, Mitchell, D.E., Duffy, K.R. and Bear M.F.Ìý Rapid recovery from the effects of early monocular deprivation is enabled by tempor