Question

When a word is presented to the left visual field:

a. it goes to the right side of the retina and then the right hemisphere of the brain and then across the corpus callosum to the left hemisphere where it is identified.
b. it goes to the right side of the retina and then the right hemisphere of the brain where it is identified.
c. it goes to the left side of the retina and then the left hemisphere of the brain where it is identified.
d. it goes to the left side of the retina and then the left hemisphere of the brain and then across the corpus callosum to the right hemisphere where it is identified.

Answer 1

When a word is presented to the left visual field, it goes to the right side of the retina and then to the right hemisphere of the brain. It does not cross over to the left hemisphere of the brain. The correct answer is option b.

Step-by-step explanation:

When a word is presented to the left visual field, it is processed in the right hemisphere of the brain. This occurs because within the eye, the axons from the medial side of the retina decussate at the optic chiasm, meaning they cross over to the opposite side of the brain. Therefore, the vision from the left field of view, which hits the medial side of the right retina and the lateral side of the left retina, is processed by the right hemisphere. This signal does not initially cross over to the left hemisphere through the corpus callosum where language is processed. In the case of split-brain patients, where the corpus callosum is severed to treat conditions like epilepsy, visualization in the left visual field won't effectively transmit to the language centers in the left hemisphere due to this disconnection.