What is the ventral processing stream?

a pathway that carries visual information from the primary visual cortex to the temporal lobe. According to one widely-accepted hypothesis, the ventral stream (so named because of the path it takes along the ventral side of the brain) carries information related to object form and recognition.

What happens when ventral stream is damaged?

Patients with damage to the ventral stream are typically unable to perceive the size, shape, and orientation of objects. Remarkably, however, some of these patients continue to show normal preshaping and rotation of the hand when they reach out to grasp the very objects whose forms they fail to see.

What is the ventral stream responsible for?

The ventral stream (or “vision-for-perception” pathway) is believed to mainly subserve recognition and discrimination of visual shapes and objects, whereas the dorsal stream (or “vision-for-action” pathway) has been primarily associated with visually guided reaching and grasping based on the moment-to-moment analysis …

What are some of the differences between processing in the dorsal and ventral visual pathways?

Two proposals theorize that the pathways are segregated in function: The ventral stream processes information about object identity, whereas the dorsal stream, according to one model, processes information about either object location, and according to another, is responsible in executing movements under visual control …

What are the two streams of visual processing?

As visual information exits the occipital lobe, it follows two main pathways, or “streams”. The ventral stream (also known as the “what pathway”) travels to the temporal lobe and is involved with object identification and recognition, in order to plan behaviour.

How does damage to the ventral stream affect visual processing?

Damage to the ventral stream can cause inability to recognize faces or interpret facial expression. Along with the visual ventral pathway being important for visual processing, there is also a ventral auditory pathway emerging from the primary auditory cortex.

How is object recognition performed in the ventral stream?

In the case of the ventral stream, information about a broad range of object parameters is being transformed for perceptual purposes; in the case of the dorsal stream, some of these same object parameters are being transformed for the control of actions.

Where does the dorsal stream and ventral stream originate?

The dorsal stream (or, “where pathway”) leads to the parietal lobe, which is involved with processing the object’s spatial location relative to the viewer and with speech repetition. The dorsal stream (green) and ventral stream (purple) are shown. They originate from a common source in the visual cortex