The Neuropsychology of Vision

Book excerpt: The Neuropsychology of Vision describes a range of exciting new approaches to neuropsychological investigation and provides a broad overview of visual neuropsychology. The book starts by examining the neural basis of perception - presenting important new research using single-unit recordings. Recent work using these methods has shown how the visual system relies strongly on feedback from higher to lower levels of information processing, and that neural plasticity exists in the primary sensory cortices of adults, areas previously thought to be hard-wired. The book also considers disturbances of visual perception such as agnosia, neglect, blindsight, and achromatopsia, describing what we now know about recovery and rehabilitation from cerebral visual disorders. Throughout, the book refers to new and adapted techniques for measuring brain activity, including multi-unit sum potential recording, fMRI, and transcranial magnetic stimulation. With contributions from leading scientists in the vision sciences, this book provides a state-of-the-art review of the topic. Book jacket.