Describe the functional problems that would be experienced by a person in which these fiber tracts have been cut: a. lateral spinothalamic, b. ventral and dorsal spinocerebellar, c. tectospinal.

Video transcript

Hey, everyone. Let's take a look at this question together, John, a 40 year old man suffered a head injury while playing basketball. After the incident, he had trouble coordinating his head and eye movements which made it difficult for him to track moving objects and focus his gaze. John visited a doctor to identify the underlying cause of his visual disturbances which include double vision and difficulty in tracking moving objects. What is the most likely cause of John's symptoms? Is it answer choice. A a tectospinal tract injury, answer choice B A lateral spinothalamic tract injury, answer choice C ventral and dorsal spinocerebellar tract injury or answer choice D corticospinal tract injury. Let's work this problem out together to try to figure out which of the following injuries is most likely the cause of John's symptoms. So from the information provided in the question about John and his symptoms, we note that John is having difficulty in both tracking moving objects and focusing his gaze. And we can recall from information that we have learned that tracking moving objects and focusing gaze are actions that are related to the coordination of the head and eye movements and involves the reflexive movement of the eyes towards a stimulus. So looking at the following answer, choices, which tract is responsible for the coordination of head and eye movements and is involved in reflexive movement of the eyes towards the stimulus. Well, we can see that answer choice. A says the tectospinal tract, which we note that the tectospinal tract is responsible for those cords nations and movements and an injury in the tectospinal tract could result in difficulty in tracking moving objects as well as focusing gaze. So answer choice. A tectospinal tract injury is the correct answer since it is most likely the cause of John's symptoms. I hope you found this video to be helpful. Thank you and goodbye.