If I had a friend who had an injured dorsal visual pathway, that might manifest as optic ataxia, where there is a deficit in reaching and grasping objects. They may reach too far or too near from the object, or have difficulties climbing stairs. If this friend had an injured ventral visual pathway, that might look like an inability to visually identify and descriminate between objects (Van Polanen & Davare, 2015). Additionally, faces, facial expressions, and reading could all be daily challenges (Dutton, 2003, p. 298).
Deficits in their daily functioning from an injured ventral visual pathway would include an inability to label an item, such as a pencil, but be able to use the pencil as the ability to use “vision-for-action” is still intact. Contrastingly, deficits in their daily functioning from an injured dorsal visual pathway would include an inability to be spacially aware of the pencil, inhibiting the ability to use hand-eye coordination, but the ability to label the pencil would still be intact. Thanks for reading!
