Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Related Concept Videos

The Retina

The Retina

The retina is a layer of nervous tissue at the back of the eye that transduces light into neural signals. This process, called phototransduction, is carried out by rod and cone photoreceptor cells in the back of the retina.

Photoreceptors and Visual Pathways

Photoreceptors and Visual Pathways

At the molecular level, visual signals trigger transformations in photopigment molecules, resulting in changes in the photoreceptor cell's membrane potential. The photon's energy level is denoted by its wavelength, with each specific wavelength of visible light associated with a distinct color. The spectral range of visible light, classified as electromagnetic radiation, spans from 380 to 720 nm. Electromagnetic radiation wavelengths exceeding 720 nm fall under the infrared category, whereas...

Vision

Vision

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.

Anatomy of the Eyeball

Anatomy of the Eyeball

The eye is a spherical, hollow structure composed of three tissue layers. The outer layer — the fibrous tunic, comprises the sclera — a white structure — and the cornea, which is transparent. The sclera encompasses some of the ocular surface, most of which is not visible. However, the 'white of the eye' is distinctively visible in humans compared to other species. The cornea, a clear covering at the front of the eye, enables light penetration. The eye's middle layer, the vascular tunic,...

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.
Once through the pupil, the light passes through the lens, a...

The Y-to-Delta Circuit

The Y-to-Delta Circuit

A balanced wye-to-delta circuit comprises balanced Y-connected voltage sources and delta-connected loads with no neutral line connection.
The initial step in analyzing a wye-to-delta circuit is to assume a positive phase sequence. These phase voltages are then utilized to calculate the line voltages that occur directly across the delta-connected load impedances. Van, Vbn, and Vcn are the phase voltages in wye, and Vab, Vbc, and Vca are the line voltages for a delta circuit. The relation between...

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Intermuscular coherence as a candidate biomarker for primary lateral sclerosis.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis & frontotemporal degeneration·2026

Same author

Reassessing Choice Probability: What 59 Macaque Studies Tell Us About Decision-Related Activity in Visual Cortex.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026

Same author

A semi-automated MEA spike sorting method for high-throughput assessment of cultured neurons.

Stem cell reports·2026

Same author

Impaired perception of isoluminant contrast modulation stimuli: Evidence for a magnocellular pathway mechanism.

Journal of vision·2026

Same author

The Richness of Vision in the Mammalian Brain: Neural Codes for Visual Perception and Behavior in Three Dimensions.

The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience·2025

Same author

Intermuscular coherence from muscle pairs in the leg as a biomarker for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Clinical neurophysiology : official journal of the International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 30, 2026

Computational Modeling of Retinal Neurons for Visual Prosthesis Research - Fundamental Approaches

Computational Modeling of Retinal Neurons for Visual Prosthesis Research - Fundamental Approaches

Published on: June 21, 2022

The Y cell visual pathway implements a demodulating nonlinearity.

Ari Rosenberg¹, Naoum P Issa

¹Committee on Computational Neuroscience, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60615, USA. rosenberg@pcg.wustl.edu

|July 28, 2011

Summary

Researchers found that Y cells in the cat’s lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) use a demodulation process to encode visual information, similar to decoding AM radio signals.

More Related Videos

Electrophysiological Method for Recording Intracellular Voltage Responses of Drosophila Photoreceptors and Interneurons to Light Stimuli In Vivo

Electrophysiological Method for Recording Intracellular Voltage Responses of Drosophila Photoreceptors and Interneurons to Light Stimuli In Vivo

Published on: June 19, 2016

Using Looming Visual Stimuli to Evaluate Mouse Vision

Using Looming Visual Stimuli to Evaluate Mouse Vision

Published on: June 13, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 30, 2026

Computational Modeling of Retinal Neurons for Visual Prosthesis Research - Fundamental Approaches

Computational Modeling of Retinal Neurons for Visual Prosthesis Research - Fundamental Approaches

Published on: June 21, 2022

Electrophysiological Method for Recording Intracellular Voltage Responses of Drosophila Photoreceptors and Interneurons to Light Stimuli In Vivo

Electrophysiological Method for Recording Intracellular Voltage Responses of Drosophila Photoreceptors and Interneurons to Light Stimuli In Vivo

Published on: June 19, 2016

Using Looming Visual Stimuli to Evaluate Mouse Vision

Using Looming Visual Stimuli to Evaluate Mouse Vision

Published on: June 13, 2019

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Sensory Processing
Visual System

Background:

Neural processing of sensory input involves complex linear and nonlinear computations.
Understanding these nonlinear operations is key to deciphering how sensory information is processed by the brain.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate whether demodulation, a process used in radio signal decoding, explains the nonlinear encoding of visual scenes by Y cells in the cat's lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN).

Main Methods:

Presenting visual amplitude modulation (AM) signals across various carrier frequencies to cat LGN Y cells.
Analyzing the firing rate responses of single neurons to these visual stimuli.
Comparing temporal frequency tuning properties of LGN Y cells with neurons in primary cortical areas.

Main Results:

LGN Y cells transmitted a demodulated signal when exposed to visual AM signals.
Single-unit firing rates fluctuated at the envelope frequency, not the carrier frequency.
Y cells appear to initiate a distinct pathway for visual information transmission to the cortex.

Conclusions:

The Y cell pathway in the LGN employs demodulation to process visual information, simplifying neural representations.
This nonlinear processing allows for the transmission of complex visual features and enables high spatiotemporal frequencies to influence cortical responses.