Neural Basis of Vision

The neural basis of vision is examined from the point of view of the anatomical organization of the primate visual system and the responses of single neurons. The recent developments of imaging studies in humans are also examined. The chapter opens with a section on the receptive field of visual neurons, from the historical definition to modern concepts. The following section is devoted to the various representations of receptive fields parameters: retinotopic and nonretinotopic maps in various structures of the visual system. The third section is a description of the anatomical and functional organization of the primate visual system, with a special emphasis on the different cortical areas, their roles, and their interactions. The fourth section is devoted to the analysis of the relationship between visual perception and the responses of single units in nonhuman primates. The last section addresses a number of unanswered or rarely addressed issues in animal studies, such as the neural basis of consciousness and mental representations, the importance of visual exploration of the environment, the neural basis of 3D vision, and the role of feedback connections. Keywords: cortical map; functional architecture; neuroanatomy; neurophysiology; receptive field; visual cortex