Visual system:
pathways and function
Paresh Malhotra
Korina Li
Learning Objectives
• Know the anatomy of the visual pathways
• Appreciate visual dysfunction associated with
different sites of neuroanatomical damage
Outline
• Anatomy
• Central visual pathway
• Dorsal & ventral streams
• Pupillary light reflex
• Effects of focal dysfunction & clinical relevance
Central Visual Pathway
Optic nerve Optic tract
Retina
Retina
Superior
Te Optic disc Na
mp Fovea sal
ora
l
Macula
Inferior
Retina
Optic Nerve
• CNS structure
• ≈ 50mm long
• 800, 000 to 1.5 million
ganglion cell axons
• 4 portions from globe to
chiasm:
• Intraocular
• Intraorbital
• Intracanalicular
• Intracranial
Optic Chiasm
Optic Tract
Optic nerve Optic tract
Lateral Geniculate Nucleus
Lateral Geniculate Nucleus
• 6 layers
• Layers 1 and 2
receive signals that
Parvocellular travel by the
layers magnocellular
pathway
• Layers 3 to 6
Magnocellular receive signals that
layers
travel by the
parvocellular
pathway
Lateral Geniculate Nucleus
• Information from the
contralateral eye goes
to layers 1, 4 and 6
• Information from the
ipsilateral eye goes to
layers 2, 3 and 5
Lateral Geniculate Nucleus
Left
Optic Radiations
Right
visual visual
field field
Blind spot Macula
Macula R
Left eye Right eye
Meyer’s loop
L
Primary Visual Cortex
V1
Primary Visual Cortex
• The left visual field projects
onto the right occipital lobe &
vice versa
• The central part of the visual
field is represented posteriorly
• The peripheral visual field is
represented more anteriorly
• The superior visual field is
represented ventrally
Primary Visual Cortex
• 6 layers
• Principal layer for inputs
from LGN is layer 4:
• 4A - minor inputs from
parvocellular layers
• 4Cα - from magnocellular
layers
• 4Cβ - from parvocellular
layers
Primary Visual Cortex
• Also called the Striate cortex because it
contains a prominent stripe of white matter in
layer 4, the stria of Gennari
Primary Visual Cortex
• Several types of
• neurones make
• up V1:
• Pyramidal cells
• Excitatory
• Axons project
• locally & out of
• the cortex
• Spiny stellate cells
• Excitatory
• Interneurones - axons project locally within V1
• Smooth stellate cells
• Inhibitory
• Interneurones - axons project locally within V1
Primary Visual Cortex
• Receptive fields of V1 cells can be:
• Simple
• Respond to bars of light with a specific orientation
• Complex
• Respond to a moving light stimulus of a particular
orientation & direction of travel
Primary Visual Cortex
• Columnar organisation:
• Orientation columns
• Ocular dominance columns
• Blobs
• Hypercolumns (cortical modules)
Primary Visual Cortex
• Orientation columns
contain cells with the
1
same orientation
preference
2&
3
6
Primary Visual Cortex
• Ocular dominance columns located in layer 4C
process separate inputs from each eye
C I C I
Primary Visual Cortex
• Blobs are: Blobs
• Peg-shaped regions of
cells prominent in layers 2
& 3 that interrupt the
pattern of the orientation
columns
• Sensitive to the
wavelength of light ie: to
colour
• Interblob regions are
areas between the blobs Blobs
Primary Visual Cortex
Hypercolumn
• A hypercolumn is a
set of columns
responsive to lines
of all orientations
from a particular
region in the visual
field & viewed by
both eyes
Information Flow Through V1
To other (extrastriate)
cortical areas
eg: V2, 3, 4, 5, MT
To subcortical areas:
To SC, pulvinar, pons
To LGN & claustrum
Extrastriate Visual Areas
Dorsal ‘Where’ Stream
• Spatial awareness
• Visually-guided behaviour
V1
Ventral ‘What’ Stream
• Recognition &
discrimination of visual
shapes & objects
• Perception & recognition of
faces
Pupillary Light Reflex
• Controls the
amount of light
reaching the retina
• Illumination of the
retina causes reflex
constriction of the
pupil
• Direct &
consensual
components
Visual Dysfunction in
Neurological Disease
Right Eye Central Scotoma
Where is the lesion?
Complete Monocular Visual Loss
Where is the lesion?
Pituitary Adenoma
What is the visual field deficit?
Bitemporal Hemianopia
What visual field deficit may have been
apparent in the early stages?
Bitemporal Superior Quadrantanopia
Right Temporal Glioma
R L
What is the visual field deficit?
Left Homonymous Superior
Quadrantanopia
Right Occipital Infarct
R L
What is the visual field defect?
Left Homonymous Hemianopia with
Macular Sparing
What visual field defect would you expect
to find?
Visual Agnosia
Apperceptive Associative
• Cannot recognise by shape
• Can copy but unable to
• Cannot copy drawings
• Often associated with
identify objects
prosopagnosia
Which visual pathway is affected?
Ventral ‘What’ Stream
What deficits may this patient have?
• Left homonymous
inferior quadrantanopia
• Left-sided neglect
Right Parietal Infarct
Left-sided Neglect
• Stimiuli in the left visual field are not consciously perceived
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