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Visual System

Visual System

Light enters the eye through the cornea, a transparent, dome-shaped surface covering the surface of the eyeball that helps to direct and focus incoming light. This light is then channeled toward the pupil, an adjustable opening whose size is controlled by the iris. The iris, a pigmented muscle, regulates the amount of light entering the eye by contracting or dilating the pupil, thereby ensuring optimal light levels for clear vision.
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Vision is the result of light being detected and transduced into neural signals by the retina of the eye. This information is then further analyzed and interpreted by the brain. First, light enters the front of the eye and is focused by the cornea and lens onto the retina—a thin sheet of neural tissue lining the back of the eye. Because of refraction through the convex lens of the eye, images are projected onto the retina upside-down and reversed.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 4, 2026

Quantification of Visual Feature Selectivity of the Optokinetic Reflex in Mice

Quantification of Visual Feature Selectivity of the Optokinetic Reflex in Mice

Published on: June 23, 2023

Selection within visual memory representations activates the oculomotor system.

Artem V Belopolsky¹, Jan Theeuwes

¹Department of Cognitive Psychology, Vrije Universiteit, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands. A.Belopolsky@psy.vu.nl

Neuropsychologia

|February 15, 2011

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

The oculomotor system actively codes locations from internal memory, not just visual input. This research reveals the brain

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Area of Science:

Cognitive Neuroscience
Oculomotor Research
Spatial Memory

Background:

Humans utilize internal environmental representations for action guidance.
The oculomotor system is known to support visual-spatial working memory.
Prior research focused on screen-based location selection for memory.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if the oculomotor system codes location selection from internal memory.
To extend understanding of oculomotor involvement in spatial working memory.
To explore the flexibility of the oculomotor system in memory maintenance.

Main Methods:

Participants memorized two locations.
After a retention interval, one location was selected for further maintenance.
Saccade trajectories and oculomotor preparation were analyzed.

Main Results:

Saccade trajectories deviated away from the ultimately remembered location.
Selection from internal memory triggered sustained oculomotor preparation.
The oculomotor system demonstrated flexibility in coding memory-selected locations.

Conclusions:

The oculomotor system actively participates in coding and maintaining internally selected spatial information.
This extends the role of oculomotor mechanisms beyond visually guided selection.
The oculomotor system is highly adaptable in supporting cognitive functions like spatial memory.