The human visual system, like that of other mammals, comprises a multiplicity of par-allel visual pathways of old evolutionary origin that bypass the primary visual cortex (V1; Milner and Goodale, 2006; Tamietto and de Gelder, 2010). We currently know very little about these V1-independent pathways, but it makes sense from an evolu-tionary standpoint that these pathways are not simply vestigial, but may continue to be active and perform some visual functions even when V1 is damaged or denervated. To quote W. James “the main function [of such V1-independent systems] is that of sentinels which when beams of light move over then, cry, ‘Who goes there’ and calls the fovea to the spot” (James, 1893).A recent study by Schmid et The independency of spared visual abili-al. (2010) published in