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Loss of motion perception during temporal-lob seizures

Posted by RobertPOShea on 15 Jul 2011 at 23:27 GMT

auras
http://plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0021798#article1.body1.sec1.p4

In a course on sensation and perception, I encouraged students to write in a discussion board about unusual perceptual experiences they had had. In 2006, one of my students, who suffers from temporal-lobe epilepsy, reported that she experienced the loss of movement perception prior to seizures. She wrote:
One of my most common experiences..., involves not being able to see objects moving for a few minutes. What I see is more like a succession of slides flashed in front of me, with a couple of seconds (I'm just guessing at the timeframes here) of complete blackness in between. I do see what is actually happening - I just don't see it moving.
She explained this as follows:
this is due to excess electrical activity at V5 in the visual pathway (processes visual motion)??? Damage to V5 causes a condition called akinetopsia (inability to see moving objects) and V5 does lie in the temporal lobe.
I responded:
That does indeed sound like akinetopsia! Although I'm sure epilepsy is a pain, and the akinetopsia initially frightening and debilitating, I hope you can get some fun out of it now you have an explanation.
I could not find any papers reporting exactly what you have. Here are two that might be useful:
Laff, R., Mesad, S., & Devinsky, O. (2003). Epileptic kinetopsia: Ictal illusory motion perception. Neurology, 61, 1262-1264.
Nawrot M. (2003). Disorders of motion and depth. Neurologic Clinics, 21, 609-629.
Regrettably, the student's neurologist declined to cooperate on finding out more about the student's remarkable experiences.

Cheers,
Robert.

Robert P. O'Shea, Professor and Head of the Discipline of Psychology,
Deputy Director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Research Cluster,
School of Health and Human Sciences,
Southern Cross University,
Hogbin Drive, Coffs Harbour, 2450,
Australia
phone: +61 2 6659 3313; fax: +61 2 6659 3202
e-mail: robert.oshea@scu.edu.au
Publications: http://www.researcherid.com/rid/C-5723-2008
Psychology Colloquia: www.scu.edu.au/psychologycolloquia
Discipline: http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/hahs/index.php/65/
The content of this e-mail is intended for the addressee only and may not be forwarded to a third party without my written permission.
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No competing interests declared.