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Understanding Visual Pathways in Humans

The document describes the visual pathway from the eye to the brain. Light enters the eye and is refracted through the cornea and lens, forming an image on the retina. Photoreceptor cells in the retina absorb photons and transmit signals along the optic nerve to the lateral geniculate nucleus in the thalamus. The optic nerves from each eye meet and cross at the optic chiasm before projecting to the primary visual cortex via the optic tracts.

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hussain
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6 views8 pages

Understanding Visual Pathways in Humans

The document describes the visual pathway from the eye to the brain. Light enters the eye and is refracted through the cornea and lens, forming an image on the retina. Photoreceptor cells in the retina absorb photons and transmit signals along the optic nerve to the lateral geniculate nucleus in the thalamus. The optic nerves from each eye meet and cross at the optic chiasm before projecting to the primary visual cortex via the optic tracts.

Uploaded by

hussain
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Visual pathways

Hussain Mustafa
Optic visual pathway
• Light entering the eye is refracted as it passes through the cornea. It
then passes through the pupil (controlled by the iris) and is further
refracted by the lens. The cornea and lens act together as a compound
lens to project an inverted image onto the retina.
• The retina consists of a large number of photoreceptor cells which
contain particular protein molecules called opsins. In humans, two types
of opsins are involved in conscious vision: rod opsins and cone opsins
• An opsin absorbs a photon (a particle of light) and transmits a signal to
the cell through a signal transduction pathway, resulting in hyper-
polarization of the photoreceptor.
• Optic nerve
• The information about the image via the eye is transmitted to the brain along
the optic nerve.
• The axons in the optic nerve go to the lateral geniculate nucleus in
the thalamus.
• Optic chiasm
• The optic nerves from both eyes meet and cross at the optic chiasm, at the
base of the hypothalamus of the brain.
• At this point the information coming from both eyes is combined and then
splits according to the visual field.
• The corresponding halves of the field of view (right and left) are sent to the
left and right halves of the brain, respectively, to be processed.
• The right side of primary visual cortex deals with the left half of the field of
view from both eyes, and similarly for the left brain.
• Optic tract
• Information from the right visual field (now on the left side of the brain)
travels in the left optic tract. Information from the left visual field travels in
the right optic tract. Each optic tract terminates in the lateral geniculate
nucleus (LGN) in the thalamus.
• Lateral geniculate nucleus
• Relays the visual image to the primary visual cortex (V1) which is located at
the back of the brain (posterior end) in the occipital lobe in and close to the
calcarine sulcus. 
• Visual cortex
• Information is processed.

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