Neuroscientists generally think of the front end of the human visual system as a simple light detection system.
The patterns produced when light falls on the retina are relayed to the visual cortex at the rear of the brain, where all of the “magic” happens. That’s when the patterns are transformed into our 3-D view of the world.
Now, however, a brain imaging study challenges this basic assumption.
Using high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), researchers discovered that more complex processing occurs in the initial stages of the visual system than previously thought.
Specifically, they have found evidence of processing in the human lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), a small node in the thalamus in the middle of the brain that relays nerve impulses from the retina to the primary visual cortex. The details of the work were recently published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
A More Complicated View
