Visual system

The sensory system that detects light and processes visual information through the eyes, neural pathways, and brain regions involved in vision.

Retina: The light-sensitive tissue lining the back of the eye, where photoreceptors begin visual signaling. It converts incoming light into neural signals before information leaves the eye.
Visible spectrum: The range of electromagnetic wavelengths detectable by human vision, roughly 380 to 700 nanometers. The eyes respond to only a narrow portion of the electromagnetic spectrum.
Color vision: The ability to distinguish wavelengths of light through comparisons among photoreceptor signals. Cone-based comparisons let the system distinguish colors under suitable lighting.
Auditory system: The sensory system that detects sound and processes auditory information through the ears and brain. Unlike vision’s light-based input, it analyzes pressure waves over time.
Photoreceptor cell: A retinal cell that detects light and changes its electrical signaling in response. Rods and cones provide the first neural response to light.
Phototransduction: The process by which photoreceptors convert absorbed light into changes in electrical signaling. It is the cellular conversion step that starts visual signaling.
Motion perception: The perception of movement derived from changes in visual signals over time and space. Visual pathways extract motion from changing patterns across the retina.
Somatosensory system: The sensory system that processes touch, temperature, pain, body position, and related bodily signals. Its receptors sample the body and contact events rather than images at a distance.
Optic nerve: The bundle of retinal ganglion-cell axons that carries visual signals from each eye toward the brain. It carries retinal output into the brain’s visual pathways.
Visual field: The region of space visible to an eye or to both eyes while gaze remains fixed. Retinal and cortical maps represent locations across this spatial field.

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