The Development Of The Functional Dissociation Of Perception And Action

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dc.contributor.advisorErez Freud
dc.contributor.authorAhmad, Zoha
dc.date.accessioned2025-07-23T15:14:19Z
dc.date.available2025-07-23T15:14:19Z
dc.date.copyright2025-03-26
dc.date.issued2025-07-23
dc.date.updated2025-07-23T15:14:19Z
dc.degree.disciplineBiology
dc.degree.levelDoctoral
dc.degree.namePhD - Doctor of Philosophy
dc.description.abstractHumans rely on their visual system to navigate and interact with the world, utilizing two functionally distinct cortical pathways: the ventral pathway, responsible for visual perception, and the dorsal pathway, which supports visuomotor actions. While the functional dissociation between these behaviours has been extensively studied in adults, its developmental trajectory and susceptibility to neurodevelopmental conditions is not as well-understood. This dissertation investigates the dissociation between perception and action in pediatric and adult populations with atypical neurodevelopment, focusing on three experimental studies. The first study examines a pediatric patient, TC, who underwent a unilateral cortical resection impacting both the dorsal and ventral pathways. Despite intact perceptual abilities, her visuomotor behaviors were markedly impaired, highlighting differential developmental trajectories of the two pathways and the dissociation between perception and action. The second study investigates children with amblyopia, a developmental visual disorder, and finds a reduced perception-action functional dissociation compared to neurotypical controls. This suggests that atypical visual experience disrupts the functional specialization of the pathways early in life. The final study focuses on adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and reveals reduced perception-action dissociation in two different contextual conditions. Together, these studies provide a detailed examination of how neurodevelopmental conditions influence the emergence of perceptual behaviors, visuomotor behaviours and the dissociation between these functions. These investigations confirm the sensitivity of visuomotor behaviours to atypical development and show that the dissociation between perceptual and visuomotor functions is disrupted under a range of neurodevelopmental conditions.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10315/42993
dc.languageen
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subjectBehavioral sciences
dc.subjectDevelopmental biology
dc.subjectNeurosciences
dc.subject.keywordsAction
dc.subject.keywordsPerception
dc.subject.keywordsCortical Specialization
dc.subject.keywordsNeurodevelopmental conditions
dc.subject.keywordsAutism
dc.subject.keywordsAmblyopia
dc.subject.keywordsCortical Resection
dc.titleThe Development Of The Functional Dissociation Of Perception And Action
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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