She says those four senses perform very important roles in the brain’s processing of sensory data into vision that’s accurate, relevant, meaningful, and usable so that people can understand what they see and react accordingly to it, as well as function properly in their surroundings. Without them, the visual image could be compromised, causing the viewer to feel estranged and confused. 

Working as a Team

All five senses are in a team, and intertwined when it comes to how they operate. This makes it not only possible for them and the brain to keep in contact and work together in order to ensure the best processing of sight’s data. Gattegno says it also means that one of them can step in and cover when another, including sight, loses its ability to function properly. With training, the sense of hearing has been shown to assist the blind, and for those who are deaf as well as blind, touch can play an important role in functioning. It’s also possible that if the sense of taste fails for some reason, sight and smell might cause the food to “taste” the same.

Loading the Reference Bank

Their primary role is to help load the various “memory libraries” of specific information gathered by the brain for reference when processing the electrochemical data received from the eyes about what is seen. Their input adds a different variety and nature of information to the data received by the eyes, which is made up purely of colour, light and shape, and affect how the end picture is perceived, interpreted and understood.

How the Senses Work

All five senses collect information in reaction to different specific stimuli and the sensations or vibrations they create. For the eyes (sight) and ears (audition) stimuli are in the form of light waves and sound waves respectively. Taste (gustation) and smell (olfaction), which are closely intertwined, are known as the chemical senses because they respond to chemical stimuli rather than light or sound waves; and textures provide the stimuli to the tactile sense of touch or somatosensation, Gattegno says. 

Touch’s information is converted in mechanoreceptors on the skin before being sent to the brain; sight by the retina from light rays falling on it; hearing from drum-like vibration in the inner ear; smells in the nasal area; and taste in the taste buds on the tongue.

She says that once the data and information is collected, all five senses send their own signals to the brain for processing using sensory neurons and individual sense-specific receptors which accept their messages, and them only, for conversion into electrical signals. 

HEAR: Ultra106.5FM Interview with Jacqueline Gattegno – Changes in Eyesight Due to a Rise in Stress Levels

For more information on eye health and vision, or to book an appointment, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

Rodney says the quality of the information provided by senses like the eyes is vital to the creation of an understandable overall picture of what is seen and experienced. It can help the person viewing it to perceive it, react to it, and understand it in a way that the information it supplies enables them to function and fit into their surroundings. 

However, this data can be easily compromised if the information sent to the brain for processing, is distorted in any way, or the processing systems are not functioning correctly. 

A Ray of Hope for Myopics

Rodney said the positive results of a study which showed that perceptual learning used in neural processing could make up for at least some of the problems caused by optical defects like myopia, and is a welcome addition to the toolbox of treatments currently being used to manage this fast-spreading refraction error. These include specially-designed single, and multi-focal contact lenses, as well as the Orthokeratology overnight treatment which uses gas permeable contacts.

When the References are Faulty

He said vision processing in the visual cortex uses memories and information accumulated from reactions to various stimuli like light, colour, construction and location as reference, and this is where perceptual learning has stepped in. Where these references have been distorted by poor vision or a glitch in the way the brain makes use of them, studies are suggesting that perceptual learning can change how people see using vision task performance training. 

However, most studies like the myopia one are still focusing only on specific aspects of the problem. In this case the study reported a significant amount of improvement in both contrast sensitivity and visual acuity in adults with myopia who had perceptual learning. 

Rodney, while welcoming these results, like many other eye doctors and researchers, is hoping that future studies will take a wider approach to the problem, and bring about even more positive results with regard to improving myopic vision and reducing its impact on their perception of the world around them. 

How Myopia Impacts on Vision

“Distortion of data and how it’s processed is one of the worst consequences of myopia for the billions who have this progressive refractory error. It’s the difference between good perceptual vision (or insight) and blurred plain sight. The compromised data collected any more than a few feet away won’t only be visibly blurred, but will not be pure and accurate enough for the brain to be able to create a clear picture of it ,” Rodney says. 

“And myopia also impacts on how the data is processed into signals that are sent to the brain for further processing into a final thought image. This happens because myopia causes the light rays which carry the initial data to land short of the retina instead of on it, so impacting on how this receptor and processor of the data functions.”

HEAR: Ultra106.5FM Interview with Gary Rodney – Covid and Myopia: What you need to know!

For more information on myopia prevention and management, perceptual vision and vision therapy and its importance, or to book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.

Treating Two Similar Issues Separately

However, Rodney says that despite having so much in common, the two are classified and treated very differently.

The vision problems are considered to be the result of errors in the data sent by the eyes to the brain’s visual system for processing into meaningful images. Dyslexia, on the other hand, is considered by practitioners to be a language-based learning disability with its informational roots in the ears. As a result it is being identified as completely different from visual problems, despite its similar impact on spelling, writing, reading, and speaking because it involves the processing of sound rather than sight. It is seen as hiccoughs in the ears’ message to the brain, or in the brain’s attempts to match and process the graphic symbols and sounds of speech and letters (particularly when heard in different languages) in such a way as to provide recognizable and usable information.

He says vision problems and dyslexia were previously thought to be identified as being brought about by different brain systems, and attributed to failures in different processing systems, until studies in the last few years revealed that both vision and sound are processed in the visual system, and the same approach to processing information is taken.

Data is collected separately by eyes and the ears, and contributed to the “libraries” of data amassed by the brain as part of its reference archive. This enables the brain to draw on information to place, interpret, identify, and understand what is seen and heard and pass this information back to the ears that heard or eyes that saw as understandable and usable.

In some situations the brain will even draw on sounds to position the images and improve the interpretation of what is seen, specially when sounds can boost the importance or relevance of what is seen, and vice versa, as in assisting in the recognition of letters.

The Advantages of Teamwork

Rodney stresses the importance of the teamwork between the brain, the eyes and the ears, as well as in the treatment chosen to deal with processing problems in vision errors or language disabilities because of the close connection between them.

“ I find it hard to understand why many therapists and other practitioners dealing with dyslexia still believe that there is no connection at all between dyslexia and vision problems, and therefore no need to consider the possibility of investigating vision problems and their treatments when seeking to correct dyslexia,” he said.

He says separating the two leaves the door open to misdiagnosis and unsatisfactory treatment results. And at the same time it can lessen the chances of detection and treatment of companion vision problems like convergence and eye tracking which could either be presenting similar impacts, or contributing to the impact of dyslexia.

For more information on vision impairments, dyslexia and the global threat imposed by them, or to make an appointment for a consultation, visit the Smart Vision website: Optometrists Sydney: Optometry Services For Children and Adults | Smart Vision; for specific information about Myopia treatment and prevention visit Myopia Prevention: Solutions, Control And Treatment In Sydney; and for detailed information about Myopia Treatment visit Orthokeratology In Sydney: The Non Surgical Alternative.

To book an appointment for a thorough eye check-up, click here or Call the Bondi clinic on (02) 9365 5047 or the Mosman clinic on (02) 9969 1600.

Syndicated by Baxton Media, The Market Influencers, Your Digital Marketing Agency.