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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...

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.

Parallel Processing

Parallel Processing

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...

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...

Depth Perception and Spatial Vision

Depth Perception and Spatial Vision

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.

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.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 16, 2026

Using Looming Visual Stimuli to Evaluate Mouse Vision

Using Looming Visual Stimuli to Evaluate Mouse Vision

Published on: June 13, 2019

Computational elements of natural vision.

Constantin A Rothkopf^1,2,3, Mary M Hayhoe^4,5,6

¹Centre for Cognitive Science & Institute of Psychology, Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany.

Journal of Vision

|October 3, 2025

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Understanding human behavior requires studying natural tasks. Recent models, like partially observable Markov decision processes, formalize visually guided actions, revealing regularities in sensorimotor decisions for better perception and cognition research.

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Visualizing Visual Adaptation

Visualizing Visual Adaptation

Published on: April 24, 2017

Area of Science:

Cognitive Science
Neuroscience
Computer Science

Background:

Human behavior is best understood within natural, everyday tasks.
Observations of natural visually guided behavior define functional demands on the visual system.
Progress is hindered by behavioral diversity and lack of unified theoretical frameworks.

Purpose of the Study:

To propose a formal approach for understanding natural human behavior.
To identify regularities in natural behavior reflecting sensorimotor decisions.
To outline how laboratory experiments can model natural behavior.

Main Methods:

Summarizing regularities observed in natural behavior.
Describing visually guided behaviors using partially observable Markov decision processes (POMDPs).
Designing laboratory experiments to elicit common elements of natural behavior and control task statistics.

Main Results:

Natural behavior exhibits regularities linked to sensorimotor decisions.
Partially observable Markov decision processes effectively describe simple visually guided behaviors.
Laboratory experiments can be structured for formal modeling of natural behavior.

Conclusions:

A formal approach using POMDPs can advance the understanding of natural human behavior.
Inverse models offer a promising future direction for recovering intrinsic properties of perception, cognition, and action.
Intertwined perception, cognition, and action in natural behavior can be formally modeled.