Occipital lobes

Visual perception system

The occipital lobes are the centre of the visual perception system. They are less vulnerable to injury because of their location at the back of the brain, although any significant trauma to the brain could produce subtle changes to the visual-perceptual system.

The Peristriate region of the occipital lobe is involved in visuo-spatial awareness, identification of movement and colour identification. Damage to one side of the occipital lobe causes loss of vision with exactly the same "field cut" in both eyes.

Disorders of the occipital lobe can cause visual hallucinations and illusions. Visual hallucinations may be caused by lesions to the occipital region or temporal lobe seizures.

Visual illusions may take the form of objects appearing larger or smaller than they actually are, objects lacking colour or objects having abnormal colouring.