Visual Processing

A quick overview of visual processing and some examples of problems that a person may have following an impairment along the visual hierarchy.

Visual Processing

Vision is the most important sensory system - provides 70% of sensory information to our brain

The visual system includes the eyeball, the optic nerve and several areas of the brain that all interact in a complex way

Oculomotor Skills - the ability to move the eyes

Visual Fields - the area that the eye can see

Visual Acuity - the sharpness of the eyesight

Visual Attention - the ability to attend and shift between visual stimuli

Scanning - the ability to scan the visual scene in a systematic way

Pattern Recognition - the ability to identify different features of an object e.g. colour, shape..

Visual Memory - the ability to visually process information, store & recall it later. Includes being able to match an image with what is already stored in your memory.

Visual Cognition - This is a high level skill It's the ability to mentally manipulate visual information and integrate this with other sensory information e.g. smell, touch/Skills such as:

• Spatial problems

• Position in space

• Constructional problems

Starting from the bottom up:

What kind of visual problems can a person present with?

• Missing information in the visual field

• Double vision (diplopia)

• Slow scanning speed therefore miss information

• Inability to recognise objects

• Neglecting stimuli on one side of the body

Next time I will discuss some compensatory strategies and treatment techniques that we teach people to overcome these impairments.

By doing this I'm hoping to spread some awareness of how the brain works and the impact an brain injury can have upon a persons everyday functioning.

Please feel free to message me if you have any questions.