Sprague effect

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The Sprague effect is the phenomenon where

homonymous hemianopia, caused by damage to the visual cortex, gets slightly better when the contralesional superior colliculus is destroyed.[1][2] The effect is named for its discoverer, James Sprague, who observed this phenomenon in 1966 using a cat model.[3] Several reasons have been thought of for this happening, including mutual inhibition between the two brain hemispheres.[4] For similar reasons of inhibiting an inhibitory structure, damaging the substantia nigra, for instance by using ibotenic acid, can also cause the same improvement.[5]

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