Visual problems in children with damage to the brain

The brain is responsible for analysing, seeing, and understanding what we see. Image data are transferred from the eyes through the visual system to the occipital lobes where primary visual processing takes place. This process involves resolution (visual acuity), visual field analysis, colour and contrast perception, and the detection and analysis of movement. Recognition of what we see takes place in the temporal lobes. The visual processing which allows us to encompass the whole visual scene and to choose an element of interest, and which facilitates accurate visually guided movement of the body, takes place in the posterior parietal lobes. These systems work in harmony. Any of these processes can be impaired by damage to the brain. Both the outer brain tissue (the grey matter or cortex) and the inner brain tissue (the white matter) serve visual function and can be damaged, resulting in a range of types of visual dysfunction of varying degree. Severe brain damage can result in blindness, with perception...