Chapter Overview

This chapter outlined how various aspects of visual perception are shaped by the properties of the retina, notably the center/surround antagonism of retinal ganglion cells and the differences between the photoreceptors that feed the ganglion cells. Clearly, though, not all vision is determined by the retina; we encountered several phenomena of vision that defy explanation at this retinal level, and there are lots more where those came from. To broaden our understanding of vision, we have to push further into the nervous system, following the messages generated by the retina back into the brain itself. These messages originating in the retina are further refined and reorganized in ways that account for still other properties of the way the world is seen.