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

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.

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 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.

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...

Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex

Motor and Sensory Areas of the Cortex

The cerebral cortex, the brain's outermost layer, is pivotal in processing complex cognitive tasks, emotions, and various sensory inputs and executing voluntary motor activities. This intricate structure is divided into three primary functional areas: the motor areas, sensory areas, and association areas.
Motor Areas
The motor areas located in the frontal lobe are central to controlling voluntary movements. This region is further subdivided into the primary motor cortex and the premotor cortex....

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by

Same author

Motor cortex directly excites the substantia nigra pars reticulata, the basal ganglia output nucleus.

Nature communications·2026

Same author

Synaptic integration and competition in the substantia nigra pars reticulata-An experimental and in silico analysis.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2025

Same author

Recurrent circuits encode de novo visual center-surround computations in the mouse superior colliculus.

PLoS biology·2025

Same author

Mouse and human striatal projection neurons compared - somatodendritic arbor, spines and in silico analyses.

PLoS computational biology·2025

Same author

Cholinergic modulation enables scalable action selection learning in a computational model of the striatum.

Scientific reports·2025

Same author

Cellular and synaptic properties of molecularly defined neurons in the external globus pallidus.

iScience·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Apr 15, 2026

Preparations and Protocols for Whole Cell Patch Clamp Recording of Xenopus laevis Tectal Neurons

Preparations and Protocols for Whole Cell Patch Clamp Recording of Xenopus laevis Tectal Neurons

Published on: March 15, 2018

Tectal microcircuit generating visual selection commands on gaze-controlling neurons.

Andreas A Kardamakis¹, Kazuya Saitoh², Sten Grillner³

¹Nobel Institute for Neurophysiology, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, SE-17177 Stockholm, Sweden; and.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

|April 1, 2015

Summary

The optic tectum controls gaze shifts using a balance of excitation and inhibition. This study reveals how competing visual stimuli are selected via microcircuit mechanisms conserved across vertebrates.

Keywords:

GABAergic inhibition evolution gaze control optic tectum superior colliculus

More Related Videos

Using Looming Visual Stimuli to Evaluate Mouse Vision

Using Looming Visual Stimuli to Evaluate Mouse Vision

Published on: June 13, 2019

Eye Removal in Living Zebrafish Larvae to Examine Innervation-dependent Growth and Development of the Visual System

Eye Removal in Living Zebrafish Larvae to Examine Innervation-dependent Growth and Development of the Visual System

Published on: February 11, 2022

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Apr 15, 2026

Preparations and Protocols for Whole Cell Patch Clamp Recording of Xenopus laevis Tectal Neurons

Preparations and Protocols for Whole Cell Patch Clamp Recording of Xenopus laevis Tectal Neurons

Published on: March 15, 2018

Using Looming Visual Stimuli to Evaluate Mouse Vision

Using Looming Visual Stimuli to Evaluate Mouse Vision

Published on: June 13, 2019

Eye Removal in Living Zebrafish Larvae to Examine Innervation-dependent Growth and Development of the Visual System

Eye Removal in Living Zebrafish Larvae to Examine Innervation-dependent Growth and Development of the Visual System

Published on: February 11, 2022

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Comparative Biology
Vision Science

Background:

The optic tectum (superior colliculus in mammals) is crucial for gaze control during navigation.
Neuronal mechanisms for stimulus selection and gaze reorientation in the optic tectum are not fully understood at the microcircuit level.

Purpose of the Study:

To elucidate the microcircuit mechanisms of stimulus selection and gaze control in the optic tectum.
To investigate the role of local and long-range tectal connections in processing visual information.

Main Methods:

Developed a novel in vitro lamprey preparation with intact eye and midbrain.
Performed whole-cell recordings from prelabeled tectal gaze-controlling neurons.
Delivered visual stimuli to analyze neural responses.

Main Results:

Receptive field activation caused monosynaptic retinal excitation followed by local GABAergic inhibition.
Stimuli outside the receptive field elicited surround inhibition.
Simultaneous stimuli resulted in suppression of excitatory responses, mediated by local inhibition.

Conclusions:

Gaze control involves synaptic integration of local retinotopic excitation and global tectal inhibition.
Tectal microcircuits use inhibitory connections to resolve competition between visual stimuli.
This mechanism is likely conserved throughout vertebrate evolution.