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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.

The Retina

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Photoreceptors and Visual Pathways

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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.
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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 29, 2025

Author Spotlight: Unveiling Neural Coding and Mechanisms of Visual Processing in the Superior Colliculus

Author Spotlight: Unveiling Neural Coding and Mechanisms of Visual Processing in the Superior Colliculus

Published on: April 21, 2023

Transformation of Motion Pattern Selectivity from Retina to Superior Colliculus.

Victor J DePiero^1,2, Zixuan Deng³, Chen Chen²

¹Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22904.

The Journal of Neuroscience : the Official Journal of the Society for Neuroscience

|April 3, 2024

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

The superior colliculus (SC) encodes complex motion patterns, showing selectivity for plaid motion over component motion. This pattern motion selectivity is a key function of the SC, unlike in the primary visual cortex.

Keywords:

patch clamp plaids superior colliculus two-photon imaging visual system

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Published on: August 4, 2018

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Visual System Research
Sensory Processing

Background:

The superior colliculus (SC) is a conserved visual center across vertebrates.
Superficial layers of the mouse SC contain neurons selective for visual stimulus direction.

Purpose of the Study:

Investigate how direction-selective neurons in the mouse SC respond to complex plaid motion patterns.
Compare motion processing in the SC with the primary visual cortex (V1).

Main Methods:

Two-photon calcium imaging in awake male and female mice.
Presentation of plaid visual stimuli (superimposed gratings moving in different directions).
Computational modeling of neural responses.

Main Results:

Most SC neurons responded robustly to plaid patterns, showing selectivity for the overall pattern direction, not component directions.
Pattern motion selectivity was observed in both excitatory and inhibitory SC neurons, particularly with large cross angles.
Retinal inputs showed ambiguous selectivity for pattern versus component motion.
Modeling suggested nonlinear transformation of retinal inputs underlies SC pattern motion selectivity.
Pattern motion selective neurons were less prevalent in V1 compared to the SC.

Conclusions:

The SC is a significant site for encoding pattern motion, distinct from V1.
Nonlinear integration of retinal inputs likely contributes to pattern motion selectivity in the SC.
The SC exhibits a unique role in complex visual motion processing compared to V1.