The contribution of LM to the neuroscience of movement vision

Zihl, J.; Heywood, C.A.

doi:10.3389/fnint.2015.00006

The contribution of LM to the neuroscience of movement vision

Zihl, J.; Heywood, C.A.

Authors

J. Zihl

C.A. Heywood

Abstract

The significance of early and sporadic reports in the 19th century of impairments of motion vision following brain damage was largely unrecognized. In the absence of satisfactory post-mortem evidence, impairments were interpreted as the consequence of a more general disturbance resulting from brain damage, the location and extent of which was unknown. Moreover, evidence that movement constituted a special visual perception and may be selectively spared was similarly dismissed. Such skepticism derived from a reluctance to acknowledge that the neural substrates of visual perception may not be confined to primary visual cortex. This view did not persist. First, it was realized that visual movement perception does not depend simply on the analysis of spatial displacements and temporal intervals, but represents a specific visual movement sensation. Second persuasive evidence for functional specialization in extrastriate cortex, and notably the discovery of cortical area V5/MT, suggested a separate region specialized for motion processing. Shortly thereafter the remarkable case of patient LM was published, providing compelling evidence for a selective and specific loss of movement vision. The case is reviewed here, along with an assessment of its contribution to visual neuroscience.

Citation

Zihl, J., & Heywood, C. (2015). The contribution of LM to the neuroscience of movement vision. Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience, 9, Article 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2015.00006

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jan 21, 2015
Publication Date	Feb 17, 2015
Deposit Date	Feb 11, 2016
Publicly Available Date	Feb 12, 2016
Journal	Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience
Publisher	Frontiers Media
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	9
Article Number	6
DOI	https://doi.org/10.3389/fnint.2015.00006
Keywords	Movement vision, Akinetopsia, Cerebral motion blindness, Patient LM.

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© 2015 Zihl and Heywood. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.