Vision After Early-Onset Lesions of the Occipital Cortex: I. Neuropsychological and Psychophysical Studies

• Published in: Neural Plasticity Vol. 2002; no. 1; pp. 1 - 25
• Main Authors: Kiper, D C, Zesiger, P, Maeder, P, Deonna, T, Innocenti, G M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Hindawi Limiteds 01.01.2002; Hindawi Publishing Corporation; Wiley
• Subjects: Adolescent; Age of Onset; Agnosia - pathology; Agnosia - physiopathology; Child; Female; Form Perception; Humans; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Neuronal Plasticity - physiology; Neuropsychological Tests; Psychophysics; Recovery of Function - physiology; Vision, Ocular; Visual Acuity; Visual Cortex - abnormalities; Visual Cortex - growth & development; Visual Cortex - physiology; Visual Fields; plasticity; development; visual cortex; lesion
• ISSN: 0792-8483; 2090-5904; 1687-5443
• DOI: 10.1155/NP.2002.1

We analyzed the visual functions of two patients (MS, FJ) with bilateral lesion of the primary visual cortex, which occurred at gestational age 33 wk in MS and at postnatal month 7 in FJ. In both patients basic visual functions-visual acuity, contrast sensitivity, color, form, motion perception-are similarly preserved or modestly impaired. Functions requiring higher visual processing, particularly figure-ground segregation based on textural cues, are severely impaired. In MS, studied longitudinally, the deficits attenuated between the ages of 4.5 and 8 y, suggesting that the developing visual system can display a considerable degree of adaptive plasticity several years after the occurrence of a lesion. In FJ (age 18:9 to 20:6 y), who is more impaired, the recovery, if any, was less.