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

Color Vision

Color Vision

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.

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.

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 layer, the vascular tunic,...

Perceptual Constancy

Perceptual Constancy

Perceptual constancy is the ability to recognize that objects remain consistent and unchanged even when their appearance varies due to changes in sensory input. There are four main types of perceptual constancy: size constancy, shape constancy, color constancy, and brightness constancy.
Size constancy is the recognition that an object remains the same size, even when its image on the retina changes. For instance, a bus is perceived to be large enough to carry people, even if it looks tiny from...

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...

Photoreceptors and Visual Pathways

Photoreceptors and Visual Pathways

At the molecular level, visual signals trigger transformations in photopigment molecules, resulting in changes in the photoreceptor cell's membrane potential. The photon's energy level is denoted by its wavelength, with each specific wavelength of visible light associated with a distinct color. The spectral range of visible light, classified as electromagnetic radiation, spans from 380 to 720 nm. Electromagnetic radiation wavelengths exceeding 720 nm fall under the infrared category, whereas...

You might also read

Related Articles

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

Sort by

Same author

The posteroventral part of the medial amygdala nucleus glutamatergic neurons encodes conspecifics' individual identity in rodents.

Science advances·2026

Same author

A midbrain circuit for high-fat-food induced conditioned taste aversion.

Nature communications·2026

Same author

Glutamatergic Periaqueductal Gray Projections to the Locus Coeruleus Orchestrate Adaptive Arousal States in Threatening Contexts.

Neuroscience bulletin·2025

Same author

Brain insulin resistance and neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer's disease: A role for dopamine signaling.

Neural regeneration research·2025

Same author

A midbrain circuit mechanism for noise-induced negative valence coding.

Nature communications·2025

Same author

Changes in neurotensin signalling drive hedonic devaluation in obesity.

Nature·2025

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: May 17, 2026

Quantification of Visual Feature Selectivity of the Optokinetic Reflex in Mice

Quantification of Visual Feature Selectivity of the Optokinetic Reflex in Mice

Published on: June 23, 2023

Visual Perception and Gamma Oscillations in Cat V1 are Dynamically Correlated in Contrast Sensitivity Functions.

Zheng Ye^1,2,3,4, Jian Ding³, Changning Cheng²

¹Liangzhu Laboratory, MOE Frontier Science Center for Brain Science and Brain-Machine Integration, State Key Laboratory of Brain-machine Intelligence, School of Brain Science and Brain Medicine, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 311121, China.

Neuroscience Bulletin

|May 15, 2026

Summary

Gamma oscillations in local field potentials (LFPs) are key to visual contrast sensitivity. Suppressing top-down influences reduces gamma power, impairing visual perception.

Keywords:

Contrast sensitivity functions Gamma oscillations Primary visual cortex Top-down influence Visual perception

More Related Videos

Dynamic Visual Tests to Identify and Quantify Visual Damage and Repair Following Demyelination in Optic Neuritis Patients

Dynamic Visual Tests to Identify and Quantify Visual Damage and Repair Following Demyelination in Optic Neuritis Patients

Published on: April 14, 2014

Detecting Pre-Stimulus Source-Level Effects on Object Perception with Magnetoencephalography

Detecting Pre-Stimulus Source-Level Effects on Object Perception with Magnetoencephalography

Published on: July 26, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: May 17, 2026

Quantification of Visual Feature Selectivity of the Optokinetic Reflex in Mice

Quantification of Visual Feature Selectivity of the Optokinetic Reflex in Mice

Published on: June 23, 2023

Dynamic Visual Tests to Identify and Quantify Visual Damage and Repair Following Demyelination in Optic Neuritis Patients

Dynamic Visual Tests to Identify and Quantify Visual Damage and Repair Following Demyelination in Optic Neuritis Patients

Published on: April 14, 2014

Detecting Pre-Stimulus Source-Level Effects on Object Perception with Magnetoencephalography

Detecting Pre-Stimulus Source-Level Effects on Object Perception with Magnetoencephalography

Published on: July 26, 2019

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Visual Perception
Computational Neuroscience

Background:

Local field potentials (LFPs) encode visual information via frequency power variations.
The precise mechanism of LFP encoding for visual contrast sensitivity is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

To develop a method for decoding visual perception levels using LFPs.
To investigate the role of different neural oscillations in coding visual contrast sensitivity.
To elucidate the top-down influences on visual contrast perception.

Main Methods:

Developed a novel method to decode visual perception levels from LFPs.
Analyzed gamma and theta oscillations, including theta-gamma phase amplitude coupling.
Investigated the impact of suppressing top-down influence from area 21a.
Utilized model analysis to understand the role of gamma oscillations in contrast gain and noise exclusion.

Main Results:

Gamma oscillations demonstrated the highest performance in detecting visual contrast.
Gamma power and theta-gamma phase amplitude coupling use distinct strategies for coding contrast sensitivity.
Suppression of top-down influence from area 21a reduced both behavioral and gamma power-based contrast sensitivity.
Gamma oscillations modulate contrast tuning via contrast gain and contribute to external noise exclusion through top-down influence.

Conclusions:

Established a direct link between gamma oscillations and visual contrast sensitivity.
Demonstrated that reduced gamma oscillation power, caused by suppressed top-down influences, impairs visual contrast perception.