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When You Do Not Get the Whole Picture: Scene Perception After Occipital Cortex Lesions
Anna C Geuzebroek1,2, Karlijn Woutersen3, Albert V van den Berg3
1Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behavior, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Radboud University, Nijmegen, Netherlands.
Frontiers in Neuroscience
|December 30, 2021
Summary
Standard perimetry may not fully capture visual field defects (VFDs) from occipital cortex lesions (OCLs). OCLs can disrupt global visual processing beyond the extent of VFDs, impacting daily tasks.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Vision Science
- Cognitive Psychology
Background:
- Occipital cortex lesions (OCLs) typically cause contralateral visual field defects (VFDs).
- Standard perimetry, using point targets, may not fully assess VFDs' impact on complex visual tasks.
- Integration of visual information is crucial for everyday tasks, yet often overlooked in VFD assessment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if standard perimetry adequately characterizes the functional consequences of OCLs.
- To compare the performance of OCL patients and healthy controls with simulated VFDs on a rapid scene discrimination task.
- To explore the relationship between VFD extent and performance variability in OCL patients.
Main Methods:
- VFDs were mapped using Humphrey perimetry.
- Participants performed rapid scene discrimination tasks.
- A computational model (GIST) predicted performance based on VFDs, with simulations for controls.
Main Results:
- The GIST model accurately predicted control performance with simulated occlusions.
- Variability in OCL participant performance exceeded predictions based solely on VFD extent.
- OCL participants showed varied performance relative to their VFDs, with some exceeding predictions.
Conclusions:
- VFD extent and shape, as measured by standard perimetry, do not fully determine OCL patient performance.
- OCLs can disrupt global visual processing more than predicted by local VFD extent.
- Individual differences in OCL patient performance may relate to lesion location (e.g., LGN, corpus callosum) and potential adaptations.
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