The Sprague effect is the phenomenon where
homonymous hemianopia, caused by damage to the
visual cortex, gets slightly better when the contralesional
superior colliculus
In neuroanatomy, the superior colliculus () is a structure lying on the roof of the mammalian midbrain. In non-mammalian vertebrates, the homologous structure is known as the optic tectum, or optic lobe. The adjective form ''tectal'' is commonly ...
is destroyed. The effect is named for its discoverer, James Sprague, who observed this phenomenon in 1966 using a cat model. Several reasons have been thought of for this happening, including mutual inhibition between the two brain hemispheres. For similar reasons of inhibiting an inhibitory structure, damaging the substantia nigra, for instance by using
ibotenic acid, can also cause the same improvement.
References
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Visual disturbances and blindness
Blindness