OFFICE EVALUATION OF VISION IN CHILDREN

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1959 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 985-989
Author(s):  
Frank Duncan Costenbader
Keyword(s):  
Visual Acuity ◽  
Binocular Vision ◽  
Visual Image ◽  
The Other ◽  
Wide Field ◽  
The Past ◽  
Gun Barrel ◽  
Field Of Vision ◽  
Similar Images ◽  
The Brain

I AM PLEASED to be included on a panel discussing the special senses in conjunction with intelligence and certain skills. It would seem that in so grouping these subjects, the eyes, the ears and the other senses have no longer been considered isolated phenomena but as parts of an integrated whole. It seems important at this early point in the discussion to emphasize the fact that the term "vision" is frequently misused, usually only connoting visual acuity. It should be emphasized that vision in its broadest sense includes visual acuity, the extent of the fields of vision, the normality or abnormality of binocular vision, and the adequacy of the visual associations such as recognition, identification and memory. It seems superfluous to point out that excellent visual acuity, if seen through a gun barrel, is by no means satisfying. Also, that a full, wide field of vision, when the object of interest is blurred, is most unsatisfactory. Having two eyes, each of which is a perfect unit, but not seeing together well and comfortably, is most annoying and handicapping. Finally, referring back to the brain a perfect visual image, which cannot be properly recognized and identified and then correlated with similar images previously received, is a totally frustrating experience. Thus, for a child "to see well" he must see clearly the thing he looks straight at, he must see widely the things about him, as well as the object of interest, he must have his two eyes properly co-ordinated, and he must be able to recognize, identify and associate this image with related images and activities of the past.

Introduction to the Six Eye Movement Systems and the Visual Fixation System

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Agnes Wong
Keyword(s):  
Visual Acuity ◽  
Eye Movements ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Information Overload ◽  
Survival Rates ◽  
Large Field ◽  
Field Of Vision ◽  
Very High Spatial Resolution ◽  
Different Characteristics ◽  
The Brain

One main reason that we make eye movements is to solve a problem of information overload. A large field of vision allows an animal to survey the environment for food and to avoid predators, thus increasing its survival rate. Similarly, a high visual acuity also increases survival rates by allowing an animal to aim at a target more accurately, leading to higher killing rates and more food. However, there are simply not enough neurons in the brain to support a visual system that has high resolution over the entire field of vision. Faced with the competing evolutionary demands for high visual acuity and a large field of vision, an effective strategy is needed so that the brain will not be overwhelmed by a large amount of visual input. Some animals, such as rabbits, give up high resolution in favor of a larger field of vision (rabbits can see nearly 360°), whereas others, such as hawks, restrict their field of vision in return for a high visual acuity (hawks have vision as good as 20/2, about 10 times better than humans). In humans, rather than using one strategy over the other, the retina develops a very high spatial resolution in the center (i.e., the fovea), and a much lower resolution in the periphery. Although this “foveal compromise” strategy solves the problem of information overload, one result is that unless the image of an object of interest happens to fall on the fovea, the image is relegated to the low-resolution retinal periphery. The evolution of a mechanism to move the eyes is therefore necessary to complement this foveal compromise strategy by ensuring that an object of interest is maintained or brought to the fovea. To maintain the image of an object on the fovea, the vestibulo-ocular (VOR) and optokinetic systems generate eye movements to compensate for head motions. Likewise, the saccadic, smooth pursuit, and vergence systems generate eye movements to bring the image of an object of interest on the fovea. These different eye movements have different characteristics and involve different parts of the brain.

scholarly journals Om religion og kognition

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armin W. Geertz
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cognitive Science Of Religion ◽  
The Past ◽  
Cognitive Approaches ◽  
Neurological Research ◽  
The Many ◽  
The One ◽  
Cognitive Study ◽  
The Brain

“On Religion and Cognition: A Brief Historical and Thematic Introduction”. This article is a brief introduction to the cognitive study of religion. Ten problems are identified which serve as the backdrop of the article. These concern the problems of historical depth in the study of cognition; the increase of many different disciplinary approaches; the resultant termino­logical confusion; the weaknesses of the natural sciences in terms of the philosophy of science; the corresponding weaknesses of the cognitive science of religion in terms of the philosophy of science; the need to replace strategic triumphalism on the one hand and strategic isolationism on the other with strategic sobriety; the need to maintain that the study of religion concerns origins, functions, forms, meanings and structures as well as texts; the realization that the methodological tools accompanying cognitive approaches should be handled with care and prudence; the reduction of cognition exclusively to processes in the brain ignores recent neurological research that points to alternative models of cognition; and there are many more possibilities in cognitive research than have been acknowledged by the pioneers of cognitive approaches to the study of religion. The article briefly discusses the many histories of research in cognition during the past 150 years and illustrates various cognitive themes which might be fruitfully pursued by scholars of religion.

Catatonia: A window into the cerebral underpinnings of will

2002 ◽  
Vol 25 (5) ◽  
pp. 582-584 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo de Oliveira-Souza ◽  
Jorge Moll ◽  
Fátima Azevedo Ignácio ◽  
Paul J. Eslingerc
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Past Century ◽  
Western Thought ◽  
Clinical Expression ◽  
The Past ◽  
Human Autonomy ◽  
The Will ◽  
The Brain

The will is one of the three pillars of the trilogy of mind that has pervaded Western thought for millennia, the other two being affectivity and cognition (Hilgard 1980). In the past century, the concept of will was imperceptibly replaced by the cognitive-oriented behavioral qualifiers “voluntary,” “goal-directed,” “purposive,” and “executive” (Tranel et al. 1994), and has lost much of its heuristic merits, which are related to the notion of “human autonomy” (Lhermitte 1986). We view catatonia as the clinical expression of impairment of the brain mechanisms that promote human will. Catatonia is to the brain systems engaged in will, as coma is to the reticular ascending systems that promote sleep and wakefulness (Plum 1991).

Toward Integrating Psyche and Soma: Psychoanalysis and Neurobiology

1981 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Flannery ◽  
Graeme Taylor
Keyword(s):  
The Other ◽  
Cortical Function ◽  
The Past ◽  
Psychoanalytic Concept ◽  
Mind And Brain ◽  
Neurobiological Research ◽  
Concept Building ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Cross Fertilization

The brain is the “key organ” for understanding mind/body/illness relationships. During the past two decades neurobiological research has generated a plethora of new data and concepts which have increased tremendously our knowledge of the functioning brain. As a result the psychoanalytic view of the relationship between mind and brain may seem at risk of becoming outmoded. Yet while psychoanalytic theory may no longer be wholly tenable, psychoanalysis continues to offer interesting and heuristically valuable isomorphic models of cortical function. On the other hand neurobiology provides a corrective influence on psychoanalytic concept-building, causing theory to be refined as it is tested against the results of research. One possible result of interdisciplinary cross-fertilization is that a revised theory of the function of dreams and fantasy may throw light on the vicissitudes of somatic experience, and the pathogenesis of psychophysiological disorder.

Relapse in the central nervous system in melanoma patients successfully treated with biomodulators.

1989 ◽  
Vol 7 (11) ◽  
pp. 1701-1709 ◽  
Author(s):  
M S Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Postoperative Radiotherapy ◽  
Interleukin 2 ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cell Mediated Immunity ◽  
The Past ◽  
Immunological Therapy ◽  
Regional Strategies ◽  
The Central Nervous System ◽  
Melanoma Patients ◽  
The Brain

A number of partial or complete remissions have been induced within the past 3 years in patients with metastatic melanoma treated with biomodulators, such as low-dose cyclophosphamide (CY) and interleukin-2 (IL-2), or active specific immunotherapy. Six of the most successfully treated patients, with prolonged remissions in skin, lymph nodes, liver and/or lung, all had relapses in the brain. At the time of relapse in the CNS, remissions were continuing in the other viscera. A large single intracerebral metastasis was found in four of the six patients; the other two patients had three metastases each, one of which also had meningeal seeding. Resection was performed in the four patients with single lesions, without postoperative radiotherapy. Intrathecal IL-2 successfully controlled meningeal disease. To date, the median survival of the group exceeds 7 months, in contrast to the usual reported median of 1 to 4 months, reflecting the predominance of resectable single lesions. Immunological therapy failed to prevent or treat metastases to the CNS, but may have influenced the patients' reactivity to the disease, producing single rather than diffuse metastases. If melanoma is to be cured now by any systemic therapy, particularly biomodulation, new regional strategies must be devised to overcome the blood-brain barrier. By analogy with autoimmune disease of the CNS such as multiple sclerosis, in which excessive cell-mediated immunity is found, several possible immunological maneuvers are suggested.

scholarly journals Time to test antibacterial therapy in Alzheimer’s disease

Brain ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Panza ◽  
Madia Lozupone ◽  
Vincenzo Solfrizzi ◽  
Mark Watling ◽  
Bruno P Imbimbo
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Gut Microbiota ◽  
Blood Brain Barrier ◽  
Amyloid Β ◽  
The Other ◽  
Brain Barrier ◽  
The Past ◽  
Blood Brain ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Alzheimer’s disease is associated with cerebral accumulation of amyloid-β peptide and hyperphosphorylated tau. In the past 28 years, huge efforts have been made in attempting to treat the disease by reducing brain accumulation of amyloid-β in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, with no success. While anti-amyloid-β therapies continue to be tested in prodromal patients with Alzheimer’s disease and in subjects at risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, there is an urgent need to provide therapeutic support to patients with established Alzheimer’s disease for whom current symptomatic treatment (acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and N-methyl d-aspartate antagonist) provide limited help. The possibility of an infectious aetiology for Alzheimer’s disease has been repeatedly postulated over the past three decades. Infiltration of the brain by pathogens may act as a trigger or co-factor for Alzheimer’s disease, with Herpes simplex virus type 1, Chlamydia pneumoniae, and Porphyromonas gingivalis being most frequently implicated. These pathogens may directly cross a weakened blood–brain barrier, reach the CNS and cause neurological damage by eliciting neuroinflammation. Alternatively, pathogens may cross a weakened intestinal barrier, reach vascular circulation and then cross blood–brain barrier or cause low grade chronic inflammation and subsequent neuroinflammation from the periphery. The gut microbiota comprises a complex community of microorganisms. Increased permeability of the gut and blood–brain barrier induced by microbiota dysbiosis may impact Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis. Inflammatory microorganisms in gut microbiota are associated with peripheral inflammation and brain amyloid-β deposition in subjects with cognitive impairment. Oral microbiota may also influence Alzheimer’s disease risk through circulatory or neural access to the brain. At least two possibilities can be envisaged to explain the association of suspected pathogens and Alzheimer’s disease. One is that patients with Alzheimer’s disease are particularly prone to microbial infections. The other is that microbial infection is a contributing cause of Alzheimer’s disease. Therapeutic trials with antivirals and/or antibacterials could resolve this dilemma. Indeed, antiviral agents are being tested in patients with Alzheimer’s disease in double-blind placebo-controlled studies. Although combined antibiotic therapy was found to be effective in animal models of Alzheimer’s disease, antibacterial drugs are not being widely investigated in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. This is because it is not clear which bacterial populations in the gut of patients with Alzheimer’s disease are overexpressed and if safe, selective antibacterials are available for them. On the other hand, a bacterial protease inhibitor targeting P. gingivalis toxins is now being tested in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Clinical studies are needed to test if countering bacterial infection may be beneficial in patients with established Alzheimer’s disease.

Cerebral Asymmetry: A Quantitative, Multifactorial, and Plastic Brain Phenotype

2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 401-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel E. Rentería
Keyword(s):  
Corpus Callosum ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
The Other ◽  
Pathological State ◽  
Cerebral Asymmetry ◽  
The Past ◽  
Psychiatric Conditions ◽  
Equivalent Structure ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Brain

The longitudinal fissure separates the human brain into two hemispheres that remain connected through the corpus callosum. The left and the right halves of the brain resemble each other, and almost every structure present in one side has an equivalent structure in the other. Despite this exceptional correspondence, the two hemispheres also display important anatomical differences and there is marked lateralization of certain cognitive and motor functions such as language and handedness. However, the mechanisms that underlie the establishment of these hemispheric specializations, as well as their physiological and behavioral implications, remain largely unknown. Thanks to recent advances in neuroimaging, a series of studies documenting variation in symmetry and asymmetry as a function of age, gender, brain region, and pathological state, have been published in the past decade. Here, we review evidence of normal and atypical cerebral asymmetry, and the factors that influence it at the macrostructural level. Given the prominent role that cerebral asymmetry plays in the organization of the brain, and its possible implication in neurodevelopmental and psychiatric conditions, further research in this area is anticipated.

The Oxford Compendium of Visual Illusions

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Perception ◽  
Da Vinci ◽  
Physical World ◽  
Color Images ◽  
Visual Illusions ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Past ◽  
Full Color ◽  
The One ◽  
The Brain

Visual illusions cut across academic divides and popular interests: on the one hand, illusions provide entertainment as curious tricks of the eye; on the other hand, scientific research related to illusory phenomena has given generations of scientists and artists deep insights into the brain and principles of mind and consciousness. Numerous thinkers (including Aristotle, Descartes, Da Vinci, Escher, Goethe, Galileo, Helmholtz, Maxwell, Newton, and Wittgenstein) have been lured by the apparent simplicity of illusions and the promise that illusory phenomena can elucidate the puzzling relationship between the physical world and perceptual reality. Over the past thirty years, advances in imaging and electrophysiology have dramatically expanded the range of illusions and enabled new forms of analysis, thereby creating new and exciting ways to consider how the brain constructs the perceptual world. The Oxford Compendium of Visual Illusions is a collection of over one hundred chapters about illusions, displayed and discussed by the researchers who invented and conducted research on the illusions. Chapters include full-color images, associated videos, and extensive references. The book is divided into eleven sections: first, a presentation of general history and viewpoints on illusions, followed by sections on geometric, color, motion, space, faces, and cross-category illusions. The book will be of interest to vision scientists, neuroscientists, psychologists, physicists, philosophers, artists, designers, advertisers, and educators curious about applied aspects of visual perception and the brain.

scholarly journals Paroxysmal Dyskinesia Associated with Hypoglycemia

1993 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian J. Schmidt ◽  
Neelan Pillay
Keyword(s):  
Blood Glucose ◽  
Movement Disorders ◽  
The Other ◽  
Insulin Dependent Diabetes ◽  
Paroxysmal Dyskinesia ◽  
The Past ◽  
Insulin Dependent ◽  
The Brain

ABSTRACT:The association of movement disorders with hypoglycemia has been rarely noted in the past. We recently observed 2 patients with documented hypoglycemia and paroxysmal dyskinesias. One patient had evidence of an insulin-secreting tumor. The other patient had insulin-dependent diabetes, and also experienced recurrent episodes of hypoglycemic hemiparesis. Classical adrenergic symptoms of hypoglycemia were absent in both patients. Our observations support the concept that the development of neuroglycopenic symptoms cannot be predicted from blood glucose measurements alone, but must depend on other factors controlling the availability or metabolism of glucose in the brain.

Freud and the Freedom of the Sane

Philosophy ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 55 (214) ◽  
pp. 485-496
Author(s):  
R. A. Sharpe
Keyword(s):  
Active Ingredient ◽  
The Other ◽  
Theory Of Action ◽  
Scientific Model ◽  
The Unconscious ◽  
The Past ◽  
Scientific Status ◽  
Scientific Nature ◽  
The One ◽  
The Brain

Freud seems to have been torn between a literary and a scientific model for his enterprises. On the one hand he stresses the scientific nature of his researches to an extent which makes the suspicious reader wonder whether he protests too much. On the other hand it is well known that he regarded many writers, though predominantly Shakespeare, as anticipating his findings on the unconscious. In one famous passage in the Introductory Lectures on Psycho-analysis he places his discovery of the unconscious on a par with the discoveries of Darwin and Copernicus in their effect upon man's picture of himself. He is justified, of course, and if we add Marx to this triumvirate we add a figure even closer to Freud in claiming a scientific status for his work, a scientific status which is, to the uncommitted, dubious. Theodore Mischel argues that Freud increasingly construes neurotic behaviour upon the model of ordinary intentional behaviour and, though he continued to show interest in the view that the unconscious impulses which are repressed are physiological in nature, this ideal of a reduction of the psychological to the physiological became a less active ingredient in his published work as his collaboration with Fliess receded into the past. So although he may have paid lip service to some form of psycho-physical identity, believing that mental phenomena are ultimately no more or less than physical happenings in the neurones of the brain, in mature Freud this seems to have been an idly spinning wheel. Roy Schafer has recently pointed out that many of Freud's followers use the concepts of natural science (force, energy and discharge, etc.), whilst simultaneously retaining traces of anthropomorphism in their metapsychology. For instance Heinz Hartmann emphasizes the concept of a ‘higher organizing function’ which resists formulation in the mechanistic metapsychology he favours. Similar difficulties obtrude in the work of Waelder and Kohut. The significance of these conflicts leads Schafer to frame basic Freudian insights in terms of the theory of action, stressing the manner in which an action may be described in differing ways and thus allowing us to present the fact that a patient's behaviour may both tell and not tell us of his deepest anxieties. Yet curiously Schafer denies that freedom plays any part in his account whereas we would have expected a concept so central to agency to have an equally central role in any recasting of psycho-analysis in terms of the theory of action.

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