What happens if the occipital lobe is injured

Brain injuries are known for causing extreme stress in family and interpersonal relationships. For this, and other reasons, it is not uncommon for psychological problems to surface, and worsen after brain injury. Below is a list of possible physical and cognitive symptoms which may arise from damage to specific areas of the brain:. The lateral geniculate bodies : These structures take in optic information from retinal sensors in each eye, sending raw information to each visual cortex.

Lingula : this area receives information from the contralateral inferior retina to gather information about the field of vision. The occipital lobe is heavily dependent on: The eyes, particularly the retinas, which take in and process visual information to then be further processed by the occipital lobe. The frontal lobe , which contains the brain's motor cortex. Without motor skills, the eyes cannot move or take in information from surrounding regions. The temporal lobe, which helps assign meaning to visual information, in addition to encoding it into memories.

What Happens if the Occipital Lobe is Damaged? The most obvious effect of damage to the occipital lobe is blindness, but occipital lobe damage can have other surprising effects: Epilepsy: Some seizures occur in the occipital lobe, and occipital lobe damage increases vulnerability to seizures.

Difficulties with movement: Even if you are still able to move, changes in depth perception and vision can lead to inappropriate movements and difficulty navigating the visual field.

Difficulties perceiving colors, shape, dimension, and size. Difficulty recognizing familiar objects or faces. Hallucinations Inability to recognize or read written words. Inability to detect that an object is moving. Difficulty reading or writing; for example, the words may appear to move on the page. Difficulty locating objects within the environment, even when you are able to see those objects. Difficulties with fine and gross motor skills, as well as balance.

Brain Made Simple. Published September 26, Accessed May 11, Learn More. Rehman A. For example, people with word blindness can utilize strategies that many blind patients use to read, such as text-to-speech programs or braille. To take part in scanning therapy and other treatments for occipital lobe damage, make an appointment with a certified vision rehabilitation specialist , typically a neuro-optometrist.

Even though they might not cure your vision loss, they can help make living with it a little easier. Damage to the occipital lobe can cause blindness and other visual distortions, including hallucinations. Although living with visual problems can be difficult, therapists and neuro-optometrists can help you adapt and make things a little easier. Vision therapy techniques might also help you improve the vision you still have.

Keep in mind that the brain is remarkably adaptive. With enough therapy, it can actually rewire nerve cells to allow undamaged brain regions to take over functions from damaged ones.

Which means even if you have severe occipital lobe damage, you might still regain your sight after brain injury. Good luck! Get instant access to our TBI recovery exercise ebook with 25 pages of exercises by signing up below!

Each exercise features pictures of a licensed therapist to help guide you. The lockdown in June was a great challenge for him as his caregivers stopped coming, no gym workouts and no outings for a coffee. Being his mother and primary carer I feared that this was a hotbed for depression.

I scoured the net and chanced upon FlintRehab. As there was a trial period it was safe for us to risk getting it across to Auckland. He enjoys working on it and now after three months can do it on his own. His left hand helps his right hand. The FitMi video explains and shows him what to do, it gives him marks and applauds him too!! He has to use both sides of his brain. The caregivers are OT students who returned enjoy working on it with him. In three months there motivation built up in him with a drive to use his right hand.

The information in the dorsal stream goes towards the parietal lobe, where the information is analyzed where an object or person is situated the "where pathway". The occipital lobes are not particularly vulnerable to injury because of their location at the back of the brain, although any significant trauma to the brain could produce subtle changes to our visual-perceptual system, such as visual field defects and scotomas.

The Peristriate region of the occipital lobe is involved in visuospatial processing, discrimination of movement and color discrimination. Damage to one side of the occipital lobe causes homonomous loss of vision with exactly the same "field cut" in both eyes:.

In the movie it shows what people see with homonomous loss of vision after 21st second. Damage to the occipital lobe can lead to simultanagnosia.