STUDIES IN TRAUMATIC EPILEPSY: 3. VISUAL FITS

Abstract

The study of epileptic phenomena in wounds of the visual cortex in the widest sense is of special interest, as the clinical features of such cases give relatively precise information regarding the parts of the brain injured. The cerebral part of the visual mechanism consists of the optie radiation, in which there is a close cell-to-cell pathway between the cells of the lateral geniculate body, and the striate cortex (area 17), which differs from the main sensorimotor area in having no clearly defined projections from the thalamus proper. After this a further wide area of cortex is involved, with visual functions such as spatial orientation, visual recognition and reading, and the visual parts of the body scheme and memory