Occipital LobeKiley Pugh and Ben Hodges

Function

The occipital lobes are involved in several functions of the body including:

-Visual Perception -Color Recognition Neurons separately encode different visual

information such as color, orientation, and motion.-

Function

Two important pathways of information originating in the occipital lobes are the dorsal and ventral streams.

The dorsal stream processes where objects are located.

The ventral stream processes what objects are.

Process

How it Works

-receives information from eyes and transmits it to the occipital lobe.

-the left eye goes to the right side of the lobe and the right eye goes to the left side of the lobe.

the information goes through the optic nerve to the back of the brain.

Discovery

The discovery of the visual cortex began in the late 1700's and spanned over a century.

Investigators had little understanding of how the brain worked.

Francesco Gennari

Discovery Gennari discovered a third substance in addition

to the “whitish layer”. This third substance or stripe consists of axons

that transmits signals within the occipital lobe. He observed that this stripe was most prominent

in what is now known to be the primary visual cortex.

Experiments In the typical experiment investigators produced

lesions in the brains of animals and studied the resulting effects.

David Ferrier Ferrier claimed that the removal of a region in the

parietal lobe blinded monkeys. He believed that this area controlled vision.

Hermann Munk Later works proved Munk correct.

Experiments

Solomen Henschen In every case, the damage included the region of

the occipital cortex that surrounds and includes the calcarine fissure.

This region contains the part of the cortex in which Gennari's stripe is most visible.

After a century, Henschen confirmed Gennari's theory.

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How it connects

The occipital lobe always works with the temporal lobe on keeping balance and sensory information

It also works the the retina in the eye to see things.

It takes what we see from our eyes to the retina through the optic nerve to the occipital lobe. Then send the information to the sensory nerves to act on what to do.

It works with the other four lobes

In case of Injury If the occipital lobe was hit or injured you will not be able to

see. This would have an effect on your eyes your balance. It would also effect your vision and perception of size, color,

and shape. Production of hallucinations Visual illusions - inaccurately seeing objects. Word blindness - inability to recognize words. Difficulty in recognizing drawn objects Inability to recognize the movement of an object (Movement

Agnosia) Difficulties with reading and writing.

http://youtu.be/nG1IcwGn4Wc

Current Research

Most research is being done is on seizures. Seizures could be caused by strobe lights and

other fast moving lights. Scientists are trying to find out the cause of

epilepsy by studying the Occipital Lobe. They are also trying to find out how to better

treat those with epilepsy.

Works sited

Bailey, Regina. "Occipital Lobes." About.com Biology. About.com, n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2013.

Taylor, Isabella. Ocipital Epilepsies. Oxford Journal, n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2013.

"What Happens When the Brain Is Injured?" Brain Basics. WETA, n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2013.

Bailey, Regina. "Occipital Lobes." About.com Biology. About.com, n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2013.

Ellis-Christensen, Tricia, and O. Wallace. "What Is the Occipital Lobe?" WiseGeek. Conjecture, n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2013.