Central visual impairment (CVI) is a visual dysfunction that cannot be attributed to disorders of the anterior visual pathways or to eye disorders that may be concomitant; linked to damage or malfunction of the post-geniculate visual pathways (optical radiation, occipital cortex and visual associative areas).
Increased survival of children with brain lesions and increased success in managing eye disorders has helped to recognize the central visual deficit as the most frequent taxonomic category of congenital visual deficit in children in industrialized countries.
CVI is caused by brain injury resulting, for example from hypoxia at birth/ ischemia, genetic diseases, metabolic disorders, infections of the central nervous system, head trauma.
Vision plays a central role in the development of the child and an early and severe visual deficit can affect the development of adaptive functions ( for example, motor, communicative-relational and cognitive skills).
Vision is also considered as a "window on the brain" as many areas of the brain participate in the processing of visual information and many neurological/neurodevelopmental disorders are associated with visual problems
In our research we aim to broaden the knowledge about the visual deficit of central origin, from the best clinical characterization to the definition of evolutionary trajectories and pathways.
A particular topic is the study of visual search with the technique of eye tracking in subjects with high functioning CVI, in collaboration with Professor Lotfi Merabet.
Our approach involves diagnostic tests and neuroimaging, also in order to develop appropriate rehabilitation strategies, involving not only visual function, but all adaptive functions.
date/time interval:
(January 1, 2012 - )