Vision Flashcards
% of the cerebral cortex plays a direct role in processing visual information
20
energy detectable to human eye
electromagnetic
3 layers of retina
- photoreceptors (rods and cones), at back of retina
- bipolar cells (transparent)
- ganglion cells (transparent), surface of retina, sends axons out of eye
photoreceptors: rods
- more numerous
- more in periphery
- sensitive to small changes in light intensity/shading
- mediate vision in dim illumination
- more outlines and contours than details
photoreceptors: cones
- fewer
- concentrated in central area (fovea)
- sensitive to color
- higher resolution visual discrimination, fine details
fovea
central area of retina that contains only cones and has greatest visual acuity
optic disk
where ganglion cell axon exit eye in optic nerve; contains no photoreceptors and creates a blind spot
main pathway of visual stimuli
eye > optic nerve > optic chiasm > optic track > lateral geniculate nuclei in thalamus, sends optic radiations to > primary visual cortex / striate cortex > association visual cortex
second pathway of visual stimuli
eye > optic nerve > optic chiasm > superior colliculus > thalamus > secondary visual cortex (V5) - for orientation of head and eyes toward new stimuli in periphery
third pathway of visual stimuli
eye > optic nerve > optic chiasm > hypothalamus - for control of circadian rhythms
receptive field
the area in the visual field a neuron responds to
photoreceptors-to-ganglion cell ratio
- nearly one-to-one correspondence in fovea
- many receptors connect with single neuron in periphery
optic chiasm
- neurons carrying information from medial half of visual field (inner / nasal) cross to contralateral hemisphere
- ipsilateral visual info from each side crosses and goes to other hemisphere
- contralateral visual info from each side stays in same hemisphere
left visual field
- left half of visual field in each eye
- seen by right half of retina
- processed by right hemisphere
right visual field
- right half of visual field in each eye
- seen by left half of retina
- processed by left hemisphere
lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN)
- in thalamus
- 6 layers
- receptive field organization is reflected in LGN organization
- segregates visual information
- optic radiations project from LGN to primary visual cortex
- segregation of information transmitted is preserved in the cortex
optic radiations
info projected from LGN to primary visual cortex