Understanding How Our Brain Sees When you open your eyes or encounter something new, your brain quickly creates a picture of what you are seeing. In about 100 milliseconds (ms), your brain has already formed a basic image of your surroundings. This image isn't complete, but it gives you a clear outline of what is there. Here is what actually happened in that brief moment: 0-10 ms: Light hits the retina. At the back of the eye is the retina, which contains photoreceptors. Pho

A weekly deep dive into the hidden architecture of your mind. The Primary Visual Cortex: Your Brain’s First Draft of Reality Where It Lives The Primary Visual Cortex, also known as V1, Brodmann's area 17, or the striate cortex, is located at the rear of your brain in the occipital lobe, positioned along the sides of the calcarine sulcus. What It Does V1 is the first place in the brain’s cortex where visual signals are analyzed. It’s the starting point for turning raw input fr

A weekly deep dive into the hidden architecture of your mind. The Superior Colliculus : The Reflex Engine Behind Your Gaze Where It Lives The superior colliculus (SC) lives in the back of the midbrain. It sits above the inferior colliculus and behind the pineal gland. Together, the superior and inferior colliculi form the tectum (“roof”) of the midbrain. This location is important because it places the SC right in the path of fast visual and auditory information entering the

A weekly deep dive into the hidden architecture of your mind. The Lateral Geniculate Nucleus: How Your Brain Sees Before You Do Where It Lives The lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) sits inside the dorsal thalamus. There is one LGN in each hemisphere. Each LGN receives visual information from the opposite half of visual space. What It Does The LGN receives visual signals from the retina, sorts them into parallel information streams, and sends the organized output to the primary