Q12 - Visual Pathway Interruptions

Theoretical 2 Real exam question - full text reproduced under IBO's CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license

Nervous System Physiology Human Sensory Organs

The visual field is the entire area that the viewer can see when the viewer’s eye is fixed straight on a central point. What do the visual fields look like (black shading indicates vision loss) for a person whose visual paths are interrupted (black line) at the locations A–D?

The visual pathway components are:

(i) Retina
(ii) Optic nerve
(iii) Optic chiasma
(iv) Optic tract
(v) Lateral geniculate body
(vi) Optic radiation
(vii) Visual cortex

Visual pathway diagram showing interruption points A–D along the pathway from retina to visual cortex

Four visual field defect patterns (1–4) showing different patterns of vision loss

Match the visual path interruption A–D with the visual defect 1–4.

Q12.A. Visual path interruption A corresponds to which visual defect?

Q12.B. Visual path interruption B corresponds to which visual defect?

Q12.C. Visual path interruption C corresponds to which visual defect?

Q12.D. Visual path interruption D corresponds to which visual defect?

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Question reproduced from IBO 2023, Theoretical Paper 2, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 - attributed to the International Biology Olympiad. Open the full exam PDF