Visual Cortices and their Impact on Sport-Related Concussion: A Review

Visual Cortices and their Impact on Sport-Related Concussion: A Review

The human visual cortex is a complex anatomical system which involves inputs and outputs from multiple areas of the brain including both the ventral and dorsal visual pathways. These visual areas and pathways may be altered following a concussion (a subtype of mild traumatic brain injury or TBI) as a result of topdown processing in the brain. Theoretical models for changes occurring in the visual pathways derived from primate research can be applied to the visual cortex in humans following concussions. The purposes of this review article are to: (1) provide an overview of the two anatomical pathways of the human visual system, (2) describe the implications for the differential effects of brain injury in the dorsal and ventral visual pathways of individuals who have sustained a mild TBI, and (3) explain how frontal cortex function or dysfunction modulates both perception and action which take place in posterior parts of the brain.