Describe the steps that take place from the time light hits your cornea until the cells in
your primary visual cortex send their signals to higher cortical levels. Include:
• Relevant anatomy at each step (parts of the eye, retinal cells, nerves and tracts, thalamic
nuclear layers, cortical layers)
• The processing of visual information that occurs at each step (light to hyperpolarization;
spots to circles, circles to lines; monocular or binocular; left/right/macular visual field)
• Be as specific as possible. Include details such as the following (but don't limit yourself
to only these details):
? whether relevant channels open or close;
? which ganglion cells project ipsilaterally and which project contralaterally;
? how inputs are organized in the LGN and in V1;
? How V1 cells detect lines when photoreceptors detect only spots of light
Relevant anatomy to include at each step: Retinal cells and their axonal projections, Lateral
Geniculate nucleus, Primary visual cortex, How absorption of light leads to hyperpolarization
of photoreceptors and change in neurotransmitter release, Receptive field of spots to circles to
lines, Monocular vs biniocular inputs, and Relevant visual fields
