Visual System - Introduction

Introduction

This article mostly describes the visual system of mammals, although other "higher" animals have similar visual systems. In this case, the visual system consists of:

  • The eye, especially the retina
  • The optic nerve
  • The optic chiasma
  • The optic tract
  • The lateral geniculate body
  • The optic radiation
  • The visual cortex
  • The visual association cortex.

Different species are able to see different parts of the light spectrum; for example, bees can see into the ultraviolet, while pit vipers can accurately target prey with their pit organs, which are sensitive to infrared radiation. The eye of a swordfish can generate heat to better cope with detecting their prey at depths of 2000 feet.

Read more about this topic:  Visual System

Famous quotes containing the word introduction:

    We used chamber-pots a good deal.... My mother ... loved to repeat: “When did the queen reign over China?” This whimsical and harmless scatological pun was my first introduction to the wonderful world of verbal transformations, and also a first perception that a joke need not be funny to give pleasure.
    Angela Carter (1940–1992)

    My objection to Liberalism is this—that it is the introduction into the practical business of life of the highest kind—namely, politics—of philosophical ideas instead of political principles.
    Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)

    For the introduction of a new kind of music must be shunned as imperiling the whole state; since styles of music are never disturbed without affecting the most important political institutions.
    Plato (c. 427–347 B.C.)