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Related Concept Videos

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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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Visual System01:26

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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.
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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...
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The brain processes sensory information rapidly due to parallel processing, which involves sending data across multiple neural pathways at the same time. This method allows the brain to manage various sensory qualities, such as shapes, colors, movements, and locations, all concurrently. For instance, when observing a forest landscape, the brain simultaneously processes the movement of leaves, the shapes of trees, the depth between them, and the various shades of green. This enables a quick and...
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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.
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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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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 16, 2025

Methods to Explore the Influence of Top-down Visual Processes on Motor Behavior
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Where in the brain do internally generated and externally presented visual information interact?

Jussi Alho1, Athanasios Gotsopoulos2, Juha Silvanto3

  • 1Department of Psychology and Logopedics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 21, Haartmaninkatu 3, Helsinki FI-00014, Finland; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University School of Science, P.O. Box 12200, Rakentajanaukio 2, FI-00076 AALTO Espoo, Finland; Advanced Magnetic Imaging Centre, Aalto NeuroImaging, Aalto University, P.O. Box 12200, Otakaari 5 I, FI-00076 AALTO Espoo, Finland.

Brain Research
|September 17, 2023
PubMed
Summary

Internally generated mental images interact with external visual input. Visual imagery representations in the left lateral occipitotemporal cortex are disrupted by visual distractors, showing how internal and external visual information interact.

Keywords:
MVPAMachine learningVisual imageryVisual perceptionfMRI

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Visual Perception

Background:

  • Conscious experiences typically arise from external sensory input.
  • Internally generated mental images, or
  • seeing in the mind's eye
  • , share similarities with real visual percepts.
  • Neural basis of mental imagery is studied, but interaction with external visual information is less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the interaction between internal visual information (mental imagery) and external visual stimuli.
  • To identify brain regions involved in this interaction using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Main Methods:

  • fMRI was used to record brain activity in healthy volunteers.
  • Participants performed visual imagery tasks while concurrently presented with visual distractors.
  • Multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) was employed to analyze brain activity patterns.

Main Results:

  • Visual imagery activated areas in ventral temporal, lateral occipitotemporal, and posterior frontal cortices, predominantly in the left hemisphere.
  • The key finding: imagery content representations in the left lateral occipitotemporal cortex were disrupted by the concurrent visual distractor.
  • This disruption indicates an interaction between internal and external visual information processing.

Conclusions:

  • The study demonstrates that representations of internal and external visual information interact within specific brain areas.
  • These interacting areas are involved in the encoding of visual objects and shapes.
  • The findings shed light on how the brain manages competing internal and external visual information.