Adjacent neurons in visual cortex have overlapping receptive fields within and across area boundaries, an arrangement which is theorized to minimize wiring cost. This constraint is thought to create retinotopic maps of opposing field sign (mirror and non-mirror representations of the visual field) in adjacent visual areas, a concept which has become central in current attempts to subdivide the cortex. We modelled a realistic developmental scenario in which adjacent areas do not mature simultaneously, but need to maintain topographic continuity across their borders. This showed that the same mechanism that is hypothesized to maintain topographic continuity within each area can lead to a more complex type of retinotopic map, consisting of sectors with opposing field sign within a same area. Using fully quantitative electrode array recordings, we then demonstrate that this type of map exists in the primate extrastriate cortex.

A twisted visual field map in the primate cortex predicted by topographic continuity