The Visual System connects with the sensory system to provide information for coordination of balance, movements, and thoughts.

The figure below is a simplified drawing of how the brain is laid out. The functional areas of the brain are not isolated; they are connected in many ways.


The Brains Functional Areas are integrated

Connecting Vision and Body

The visual pathways are connected to at least 34 other centres in the brain that are dealing with physiological dynamics other than vision.

“Traditional Medical model” of Vision versus the “Developmental model” of vision

The “traditional medical model” of vision considers visual dysfunction as a structural problem. If a child can’t see the blackboard, they are given glasses for shortsightedness. If a middle-aged person can’t see small print, they are given reading glasses. If an elderly person’s vision is blurred by a cataract, their lens is replaced by a man-made one. This is a static concept: an eye has a defect, so something optical is done to correct it.

The “developmental model” recognises that vision is a dynamic process, which controls the action of the entire body and, in turn, is influenced by feedback from other sensory systems. Vision is not a static receptor of information, according to this model, but an interactive one.

70% of all of the sensory nerves in the entire body receives impulses from the eyes.

A key difference between the medical and developmental models of vision is how they view the two visual systems.