Occipital Lobe Function

The highest evolved species of all, on planet earth is considered to be humans. What makes us humans get this honor among other animals is the gift of complex thinking and coordination of various body systems. This gift is useful because we have a highly evolved brain that observes and reacts according to various actions. Thehuman brain is like a supercomputer that processes information and gives out stimulus to act and react before you can say 'Cheese'. The different parts of the brain and their functions are totally different. Occipital lobe functions are just a part of the main chip, the brain. In the following paragraphs, we shall focus on the occipital lobe exclusively.

Occipital Lobe Function and Location
The occipital lobe is located behind the parietal lobe on the top of membrane that helps in separating it from cerebellum. It is the smallest of all lobes of the brain and placed right at the back of your head. It has no clear borders and the primary function of the occipital lobe is vision. The occipital lobe is divided into two lobes right and left side that corresponds to the right and left brain hemispheres. Let us now see the occipital lobe brain region and their function in detail.

Function of Occipital Lobe
The primary function of the occipital lobe is controlling vision and visual processing. The occipital lobe helps us see and identify different things that we look at. It also helps us differentiate and understand different colors. As soon as a baby is born, occipital lobe begins to function. The visual stimuli received by the infants eye is sent over to the occipital lobe that helps the baby interpret the vision. As the infants grows, his/ her vision becomes more and more acute and the ability to understand various images by the occipital lobe also grows.

The function of occipital lobe are not just limited to visual recognition. Its function also includes the ability to understand and differentiate between different shapes. If the brain did not process the different shapes we see, we will not be able understand the geometry of shapes. This would also make it impossible for one to understand various letters as one would not be able to interpret or differentiate between the different shapes.

Occipital lobe also point towards brain injury or brain disorders. If the brain suffers from damage, injury or illness it will affect the vision of the person. A brain disorder called occipital lobe epilepsy affects the occipital lobe of the brain. This condition leads to hallucinations and even seeing the same image repetitively. It may even cause uncontrollable blinking and eye movements. In some cases, it may lead to severe eye pain, seizures and even blindness. This condition is however treatable by medical intervention.

In case a person is hit by an object at the back of the head due to an accident or suffers from traumatic brain injury, he may suffer from irreparable damage to the occipital lobe. This may cause vision problems, hallucinations and failure to interpret the visual stimuli. It may also lead to complete blindness or change in vision.

The occipital lobe functions are divided according to several visual areas. These areas are not anatomically distinguishable but are mapped by physiologists using electrode recordings. The primary visual cortex is the first functional brain region related to occipital lobe. The functions include description color properties, local orientation, etc., within a small receptive field.

This was all about the occipital lobe functions and locations. The functions of occipital lobe may have a hand in the origination of the popular phrase 'eyes at the back of the head'. I hope you have found some answers related to occipital lobe in the above paragraphs.