WHY ARE VERTEBRATE NERVOUS SYSTEMS CROSSED

Contralateral central nervous control may be an evolutionary consequence of dependence on the image-forming eye, especially in large organisms. As a result of the topological transformation of the visual stimulus in the pupillary eye, the external environmental hemispace impinges directly upon the contralateral internal organismal hemispace. Selective pressure leads to the development of central connections capable of the most rapid and precise functional association of the internal milieu with the organism's environment. The consequence is contralateral central sensorimotor control. Previous hypotheses are discussed, including those based on bilaterality, binocularity, the optic chiasm and avoidance behaviors.