Parallel Processing in the Human Visual System

Parallel visual pathways subserving separate visual functions have been well documented in animals. Evidence of similar parallel pathways have also been demonstrated in humans. This review is not intended to be a comprehensive overview of parallel processing; a number of such reviews exist (Rowe and Stone, 1977; Lennie, 1980; Stone, 1983; Kaas, 1986; Shapley and Perry, 1986; DeYoe and Van Essen, 1988). This chapter is meant to provide the reader with a general background of the evidence for parallel processing in the primate visual system, to extend that evidence to the human visual system, and finally to speculate that selective components of these parallel pathways may be compromised in certain disease states. This review also serves to make the reader aware of the many classification schemes used in describing parallel pathways and of the tests that may be used to assess the functioning of these pathways.

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