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Archived Comments for: The optic chiasm: a turning point in the evolution of eye/hand coordination

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  1. The achiasmatic syndrome provides an opportunity to test the eye-forelimb hypothesis empirically

    Matz Larsson, Örebro University Hospital

    2 December 2013

    There is an error on page 3 in the section“Ipsilateral retinal projections and oculomotor
    function”.  The sentence “The achiasmatic syndrome, a rare genetic condition, offers a model of a human vision system without IRP”ought to be replaced with “The achiasmatic syndrome, a rare genetic
    condition, offers a model of a human vision system with only IRP, i.e. without contralateral retinal projections”. Moreover, in the legend to figure 3 the sentence “This type of visual system is present in humans with the rare achiasmatic syndrome (38).” should be omitted. However, the principal problem will be fairly similar in regards of eye hand coordination. According to the eye-forelimb hypothesis a subject with the achiasmatic syndrome is likely to have reduced capability to visually steer the hand when it works in its ipsilateral visual hemifield (for example when the right hand operates in the right visual hemifield). In contrary a subject with this anatomy is likely to achieve a relatively better visual steering of the hand when it is working in the contralateral visual field (for example when the right hand operates in the left visual hemifield). Thus patients with the achiasmatic syndrome might provides an opportunity to test the eye-forelimb hypothesis empirically.

    Competing interests

    None

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