Nasotemporal overlap investigated in a case of agenesis of the corpus callosum.
In primates fibres from nasal retinae project contralaterally and those from temporal retinae ipsilaterally. At the border between these two regions an area of overlap where ipsi- and contralaterally projecting ganglion cells intermingle has been demonstrated in monkeys and cats. However, behavioural studies have failed to provide confirmatory evidence in humans. In this experiment simple reaction times to lateralized light flashes at four points of eccentricity (1/2, 1, 2 and 4 degrees) were recorded in an acallosal female. Responses made by the directly stimulated hemisphere were subtracted from those made by the indirectly stimulated hemisphere to arrive at estimates of interhemispheric transmission time. If present, a region of overlap should result in information being available to both hemispheres and consequently alleviate the need for any interhemispheric crossing. However, a large transmission time was found, even with stimuli presented close to fixation, thereby providing no evidence for the existence of such a region in humans.
D000328:Adult; D061085:Agenesis of Corpus Callosum; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005403:Fixation, Ocular; D006801:Humans; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D012160:Retina / Q000502:physiology*; D013045:Species Specificity; D014793:Visual Cortex / Q000502:physiology*; D014795:Visual Pathways / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D014796:Visual Perception / Q000502:physiology*