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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 17, 2026

Methods to Explore the Influence of Top-down Visual Processes on Motor Behavior

Methods to Explore the Influence of Top-down Visual Processes on Motor Behavior

Published on: April 16, 2014

Do visual illusions probe the visual brain? Illusions in action without a dorsal visual stream.

Yann Coello¹, James Danckert, Annabelle Blangero

¹Unit de Recherche sur l'Evolution des Comportements et l'Apprentissage, Université Charles de Gaulle, Lille, Villeneuve d'Ascq Cedex, France. yann.coello@univ-lille3.fr

Neuropsychologia

|February 9, 2007

Summary

Visual illusions impact perception more than action, challenging the perception-action theory. A patient with dorsal stream damage showed normal visually guided actions, suggesting alternative pathways for visuomotor control.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Psychology
Visual Perception

Background:

The perception-action theory posits distinct visual processing streams: ventral for perception and dorsal for visuomotor action.
Visual illusions typically affect perceptual judgments more than motor behavior, supporting this theory.
The dorsal visual stream is considered crucial for processing 3D spatial relationships for action control.

Observation:

A patient (IG) with bilateral dorsal visual stream lesions was tested using size-contrast and induced Roelofs visual illusions.
The perception-action theory predicted that IG's perception and action control would be impaired by illusions due to reliance on the ventral stream.

Findings:

IG's performance in illusory contexts was comparable to control participants for both perceptual judgments and visuomotor control.
This challenges the notion that the dorsal stream is solely responsible for all visuomotor behavior.
The results indicate that visually guided actions can be executed independently of the dorsal stream.

Implications:

The findings question the strict functional division proposed by the perception-action theory.
Visuomotor behavior may utilize alternative pathways, potentially involving the inferior parietal lobule, when the dorsal stream is compromised.
This suggests greater flexibility and redundancy in the neural control of visually guided actions.