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The Universe of the Eye

Universe of an Eye

The nature versus nurture debate seems to crop up in just about every discussion of human development, and the development of the visual system is no exception. There is convincing evidence on both sides for us to conclude that both nature and nurture influence the development of the visual system, and so we see that “nature” and “nurture” are not mutually exclusive. One piece of evidence that nature controls the development of the visual system is the findings that infants have a preference for lines of certain orientation (horizontal or vertical, rather than diagonal). However, nature’s role in development has been noted in experiments that involve kittens being placed in environments that only have lines of certain orientation (e.g. vertical lines only). When the kitten is taken out of such an environment, we see that it responds differently in the visual cortex to vertical lines than it does to lines of other orientation. 

 

Thus, it seems that an adequate equation for the relationship between nature, nurture, and development might look something like this: 

     Development = Nature + Nurture + (Nature x Nurture)

 

There could be several consequences of having an underdeveloped visual system. An infant with abnormal vision will not be able to interact with the world in quite the way that a “normal” child can. Much of our development in childhood depends upon our visual system and the actions that the system enables (e.g. learning how to judge depth and grasp a toy at arm’s length in one attempt). Thus, our visual system in our early years affects our development of other skills, like motor coordination. 

Even beyond developmental effects of having an impaired visual system, there are often social consequences as well. Especially during childhood, much of how children define themselves is through abilities like athletic skill. Those children who cannot participate in sports or join other children on the monkey bars could become at risk of being excluded because of their handicap. Thus, an abnormal visual system could also result indirectly in slower social development.

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