The Eyes Are the Windows of the Brain
By
Stephanie Mines, Ph.D.
Copyright 1/12
Many of the premises of the TARA Approach are being validated by new research in neuroscience. Louis Cozolino has done an excellent job in collecting some of this data in his new book The Neuroscience of Human Relationships. Dr. Cozolino speaks about how relationships begin in the uterine environment as the baby evolves adept structures in response to perceptions of the people and world that penetrate within.
It is exciting to see how ideas once thought bizarre, outlandish and unproven are reshaped into cutting edge new discoveries that everyone echoes. I remember one student years ago who ridiculed my proclamations about connective tissue unwinding to become the boulevard of bioelectrical cellular memory that is ultimately stored in the amygdala as an implicit database. He said this was totally "out there." Now this is the popular theoretical basis of a Nobel prize winner's research (Eric Kandel) and the content of seminars with the renowned Bruce Lipton, conference presenter extraordinaire.
Similarly I have frequently taught about how the baby in utero is able to see. Many, even today, remain incredulous about this. Recently in my research on sensory integration I have come across a stunning paper that is not at all well known but that proves this. Written for and delivered to the College of Optometrists in 1995 this document says:
"The child's visual history begins in the dark, warm, liquid environment of the uterus."
The article goes on to correlate the development of vision with brain development:
"There is a close analogy between the layers of the cortex and those of the retina. At sixteen weeks in utero the fetal vestibular system is operational and necessary for ocular movement and development."
The author, Dr. Albert Sutton, correlates the mother's ability to stimulate the baby in utero with the development of vision, adding:
"Vision is not in the eye; the eye is an instrument of vision. Vision is the product of the other neurological systems interacting with the eye. The foundation for these systems is laid down during the prenatal and first years of life when the neural pathways are formed between the eyes, the brain and the body."
Vision is a neural activity that evolves in relationship to our experience of threat. This understanding opens new possibilities for evaluating the causes of visual processing disorders and other vision problems. We can provide new avenues for correcting these challenges if we understand the intimate connection between vision, the brain, attachment and early threat.
The purpose of investigating the remarkable developmental intensity of prenatal life is not, as some have suggested, to increase the idea of victimization or to cast blame. On the contrary, by opening our awareness to the intimate experience that the baby has of the environment that shapes his or her brain, we open new therapeutic channels. Understanding the formative consciousness of the developing being allows us to further maximize human potential in ways that have not yet been tried.
The role of vision as a window of the brain in autism and visual processing disorder and related conditions needs to be identified. Vision is a neurological response to epigenetics. That epigenetic environment is within our control to shape. It is an environment of human interaction and choice. We can maximize the opportunities for our children by refining that environment through our stimulating and welcoming relationship to our children prenatally and during the primal period. We can also de-industrialize birth to help prevent the escalation of the sensory disorder pandemic. When we look clearly into our baby's eyes at birth we open the windows of the brain.