Anatomy and Physiology of Eye and Visual Pathway

Chung, Kyung-Cheon

Ann Clin Neurophysiol > 2001 ;3(1) > Article

Ann Clin Neurophysiol. 2001; 3(1): 55-61.

Kyung-Cheon Chung

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

ABSTRACT

The function of the visual system is to locate objects in space, decide if they are moving, and determine if they are familiar. Light is focused onto an array of retinal receptors and converted to neural signals that are sent to primary visual cortex, where elementary features such as color, form, depth, and motion are separately encoded. Motion and depth information is conveyed to the occipitoparietal cortex, where spatial percepts are derived. Color and form information is conveyed to the occipitotemporal cortex, where it is interpreted as familiar or unfamiliar. Many other neocortical regions contribute attentional and motivational inputs that help to select and bind relevant features into meaningful visual symbols. We discuss about optical, retinocortical, and integrative component of visual system.

Key words: Visual system, Optical, Retinocortical, Integrative component