Defective discrimination: cerebral visual impairment Flashcards
what is visual dysfunctions caused by
damage to the brain - cortical or extracortical
what things may cerebral visual impairment affect
- visual fields
- VA
- other aspects of perception e.g. motion detection, colour vision, object recognition
why can cerebral visual impairment often get misdiagnosed and mismanaged by optometrists
due to contradictory findings of
- normal VA’s & visual fields (routine measurements can still seem fine)
&
- unusual visual complaints (caused by cerebral changes)
which part of the brain is involved with object recognition i
inferotemporal area/cortex (IT)
what do RF cells in the inferotemporal area respond to
specific shaped stimuli = selective
some respond to simple geometric shapes and some respond to more complex biological stimuli e.g. hands and faces
how are the cells in the inferotemporal (IT) area grouped
into columns, where cells in the same column respond to the same shapes
what do 10% of IT cells show preference for
only face shape (monkey or human), not the features of a face e.g. if the features were jumbled up then the cells won’t respond
what types of faces do IT cells respond more strongly to and what is this called
faces of specific people/monkeys i.e. selective for identity
but the same face will excite many cells, so its more likely that recognition of a face is coded by pattern of activity within population of cells
what is the meaning of agnosia
loss of ability to recognise objects, faces, sounds, shapes, or smells when specific sense is not defective & no significant memory loss
what is not necessary lost when someone has an agnosia
memory is not lost
what is not necessary lost when someone has an agnosia
memory or vision is not lost
what is a visual agnosia and explain the symptoms
selective deficits to IT cause inability to recognise object or a class of objects e.g. unable to match a shape with another that looks exactly the same correctly, but they can see the shape and they know what it is, but lost the ability to recognise the shape from their visual appearance
what is colour agnosia
lack of ability to recognise colours
what is prosopagnosia and explain the symptoms
face blindness
- patient cannot recognise familiar faces, even their own
- can see all the features
- can classify faces e.g. male/female, race etc
- but faces have no meaning
- can recognise family and friends when they speak
what to lesions to IT of the right hemisphere cause
greater impairment in face processing
as right hemisphere IT is responsible for face recognition
what is prosopagnosia often associated with and why
achromatopsia (colour loss), because IT is near v4
what is cerebral achromatopsia caused by and what does it result in
damage to v4 results in complete or partial loss of colour vision
why is it easy for an adult to describe that they have prosopagnosia or achromatopsia as opposed to a child
because adults know what their vision used to be like, but when children have this problem from a young age, they won’t know that this problem is normal or they cannot explain it
when a child is unable to recognise familiar people such as their mother until they speak, and are unable to recognise pictures of everyday objects e.g. unable to distinguish between a dog and a cat until given a verbal clue but can still pick objects up if they were dropped on the floor, and their vision is fine, what two things does this child have
prosopagnosia associated with visual agnosia
sometimes children are not believed by the parent or teacher as they can still see and pick up objects
how can a person with prosopagnosia who misread facial expressions and struggle to recognise individual faces built strategies to recognise certain people
by remembering their hair style, style of walk and hair colour, recognising their voices and scents
these can be taught to children by their teachers and parents
what are the causes of more general neurological damage which results in pure visual agnosia
- congenital (hereditary)
- stroke
- dementia
- brain damage
- degenerative neurological conditions
- brain infection
- trauma
how is word recognition a complicated visual task
because whilst reading you have to identify the symbol, and then translate it into phonological and semantic codes (i.e. sounds and meaning of word)
how is word recognition a complicated visual task
because whilst reading you have to identify the symbol, and then translate it into phonological and semantic codes (i.e. sounds and meaning of word) involves co-operations between different brain systems
what different things can word recognition be affected by
- trauma
- strokes
- developmental abnormalities
what is the condition of not recognising words called
alexia
describe one form/symptom of alexia
letter by letter reading
these patients can only read one letter at a time (as can’t judge by shape of work & control & can’t guess the next word as we go along)
describe one form/symptom of alexia
letter by letter reading
these patients can only read one letter at a time (as can’t judge by shape of work & control & can’t guess the next word as we go along)
what area of the brain is visual guidance and attention related to
parietal lobe