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Related Concept Videos

Vision01:24

Vision

55.1K
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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Visual System01:26

Visual System

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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...
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Depth Perception and Spatial Vision01:15

Depth Perception and Spatial Vision

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Depth perception is the ability to perceive objects three-dimensionally. It relies on two types of cues: binocular and monocular. Binocular cues depend on the combination of images from both eyes and how the eyes work together. Since the eyes are in slightly different positions, each eye captures a slightly different image. This disparity between images, known as binocular disparity, helps the brain interpret depth. When the brain compares these images, it determines the distance to an object.
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Visual Agnosia01:12

Visual Agnosia

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Visual agnosia is a condition characterized by the inability to recognize visually presented objects despite having normal vision. For instance, a person with visual agnosia can describe the shape and color of an object but cannot identify or name it. This impairment does not affect their visual field, acuity, color vision, brightness discrimination, language, or memory. An example of this condition in a social setting is someone at a dinner party asking for "that silver thing with a round...
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Color Vision01:24

Color Vision

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Color perception begins in the retina, the light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye. Two main theories explain how colors are seen: the trichromatic theory and the opponent-process theory. The trichromatic theory, proposed by Thomas Young in 1802 and extended by Hermann von Helmholtz in 1852, suggests that color vision is based on three types of cone receptors in the retina. These cones are sensitive to different but overlapping ranges of wavelengths corresponding to red, blue, and green.
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Gestalt Principles of Perception01:21

Gestalt Principles of Perception

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Gestalt principles provide a framework for understanding how humans perceive objects as unified wholes within their context. These principles are essential in explaining the cognitive processes that make sense of complex visual stimuli by organizing them into coherent groups. One fundamental principle is proximity, which posits that objects located close to each other are perceived as a collective group. For instance, when dots are positioned near one another, the visual system interprets them...
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 1, 2025

Author Spotlight: Enhancing Neurorehabilitation Through EEG, Motor Imagery, and Virtual Reality
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Author Spotlight: Enhancing Neurorehabilitation Through EEG, Motor Imagery, and Virtual Reality

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Visual mental imagery: Inside the mind's eyes.

Alfredo Spagna1

  • 1Department of Psychology, Columbia University, New York City, NY, United States.

Handbook of Clinical Neurology
|August 14, 2022
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Mental images aid in planning and strategizing future actions through mental simulation. The ventral temporal cortex, particularly the left hemisphere, is crucial for visual mental imagery.

Keywords:
Fusiform imagery nodeMental imageryNeuropsychologyTemporal lobeVMI network

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Psychology

Background:

  • Mental imagery is essential for planning and simulating future actions.
  • It involves activating internal representations for prediction.
  • The neural basis of mental imagery is debated.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To review neuroscientific literature on mental imagery.
  • To reappraise neuropsychological and neuroimaging evidence.
  • To propose a model of mental imagery integrating brain data.

Main Methods:

  • Review of neuroscientific literature.
  • Analysis of neuropsychological and neuroimaging data.
  • Integration of structural and functional brain data for modeling.

Main Results:

  • Visual mental imagery is primarily an endogenous process.
  • Exogenous activation of mental images is rare.
  • The ventral temporal cortex, especially the left hemisphere, is a key neural substrate.

Conclusions:

  • The ventral temporal cortex plays a critical role in mental imagery.
  • A unified model can be informed by both structural and functional brain data.
  • Further research is needed to fully elucidate the neural mechanisms.