functional blindness

visual deterioration without any apparent change or disease affecting the structural integrity of the visual system: one of the most frequent symptoms in somatization disorder. In addition to loss of acuity, visual functional phenomena may include photophobia; burning, painful, or tired eyes; monocular diplopia (double vision); ptosis; blepharospasm; convergence problems; and severe concentric visual field constriction in one or both eyes. Despite the symptoms, the pupils continue to react to light, and the patient automatically avoids (i.e., is able to detect and thereby avoid) objects that would cause injury. Complete functional blindness is rare. The condition was formerly known as hysterical blindness or psychic blindness.

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Psychology term of the day

December 19th 2024

verbal deprivation hypothesis

the hypothesis that children who are denied regular experience of an elaborated code of language—that is, a more formal use of language involving complex constructions and an unpredictable vocabulary—may develop an educational and even cognitive deficit. The concept is controversial as it has been associated with the view that nonstandard or vernacular forms of a language (e.g., Black English) are inherently inferior. The idea that nonstandard forms inhibit higher level cognitive processes (e.g., abstract reasoning) is now discredited, but concerns remain that lack of early exposure to the more formal codes of a language appears to correlate with educational underachievement. [proposed in 1973 by British sociologist Basil Bernstein (1924–2000)]